It's a clusterfuck. Where the nobodies take the dress code seriously and show up in monkey suits and the somebodies might wear sneakers like George Drakoulias and if you're an insider it resembles nothing so much as a summer camp reunion, where you see everyone you know and catch up and the only problem is the cocktail party is too short.
And then the show begins.
There's a painful auction. Inane introductions. And endless covers of the honoree's songs. And on paper it all looks good, but in reality it usually falls flat. Because although the backup band is stellar, the performers are oftentimes underrehearsed and reading from an obvious teleprompter at the back of the room and for an evening that is selling magic, there's very little of it.
If I had to pick the highlight of the program, I'd go with George Strait singing "You Wreck Me." This should not have worked whatsoever, but George hit a line drive over the fence and if you knew who he was you were grinning from ear to ear. But, as one of his promoters, John Meglen, remarked, nobody there had any idea they were in the presence of superstardom. That'd have to be the CMAs, and Musicares is a positively west coast enterprise. George is standing there in his cowboy hat, the man with the voice who does not write, and you'd have sworn those were his words and that he'd gone to the Whisky to see Tom way back when.
Which I did. Back in '77. When KROQ was still a free-format station and "Breakdown" was starting to get some traction and the press wasn't sure whether Tom Petty was a punk.
And I've seen TP many times since and wondered if I ever needed to see him again and...
Neil Portnow gave a long, drawn-out intro to Tom for the award, they should have gotten a musician, and then Tom strode up to the mic.
And seemed genuinely chuffed. And let's be clear, this is just about raising money, for a good cause, but that's why they honor someone.
And Tom's rambling as a good Southerner should. And you know he waxes and wanes between friendliness and edginess and you're not quite sure where he's going but then he points out Mo in the crowd and talks about playing "Free Fallin'" with George and Jeff at his house, just as the Wilburys were coming together, and Lenny Waronker exclaims it's a hit, which it certainly became, but Tom said his label refused to put it out.
Which was true.
But then Tom started talking about Leon Russell, one of the majordomos of his initial label, Shelter. Tom goes over to his house and when he emerges into the night with a group of household names Tom puts on his shades. And Leon chides him, tells him he's got to EARN that right. That Lou Adler didn't don them until AFTER the Mamas & the Papas and when Jack Nicholson was making genre pictures he didn't wear them and Tom said at this point he thought he'd earned them, and after telling that story he pulled his dark glasses out of his pocket and put them on and the crowd roared!
And after talking about how Johnny Cash told him he was a good man to go down the river with, Tom strapped on his guitar, strode to the middle of the stage, looked at the Heartbreakers and started to play.
You've got to understand. We grew up in a different era. Where the radio was our Facebook and the musicians were our Steve Jobs's. Today's players, and they rarely do, are just vessels for stardom, there's rarely any there there. And Tom Petty is positively second generation, he didn't hit until the seventies. But so many baby boomers weren't born until the fifties, and the band fires up and...
You're taken right back to what once was. You're in the pocket. You remember when it wasn't about texting on your cellphone at the show, but pushing up to the stage, needing to get closer.
And Tom implored everybody to do this. And all the overdressed people surged up from the back and surrounded the stage and after playing a relative obscurity, "Waiting For Tonight," he went into his eighties hit, "Don't Come Around Here No More."
It was all over MTV. When a hit was ubiquitous. And with backup vocals from the Bangles it was like hearing our national anthem, it was like Washington, D.C. and the shenanigans didn't exist. The band locked into a groove and we were magnetized to it. You just stared at the stage in wonderment and recalled why you were there. Because we were all in thrall to the music, we were in service to the music, and it felt so good and it felt so good last night.
And when Stevie Nicks emerged to sing "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" I was jetted right back to 1981, when you had to buy the album. Stevie was famous for Fleetwood Mac, you had no choice but to go to the store and buy the LP without hearing it first. And sure, "Edge Of Seventeen" was all over the radio, but then came...
"Baby you'll come knocking on my front door
Same old line you used before"
No one even knocks on your front door anymore! You ping them on your device, there's not the same anticipation of magic or loss and...
The guitars are singing, we're on the aural adventure, and then...
"So you've had a little trouble in town
Now you're keeping some demons down
Stop draggin' my
Stop draggin' my
STOP DRAGGIN' MY HEART AROUND!"
I'm thrusting my arm in the air, singing at the top of my lungs, because that's what I did and still do when I'm moved by the music, you can't hear me over the band, over the record player, but I need to involuntarily join in, because this is my religion.
And then Jeff Lynne implored us not to back down and when that was done there was that indelible riff...
"It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'"
Again, again and again. We got our license and took off down the highway with the tunes cranked. There were no selfies, but if there were you'd have seen our long hair blown back and shiteating grins on our face.
"Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' little 'Runaway'
I was flyin'"
Kinda like Harry Chapin in his taxi. Our feet were not touching the earth, and last night they weren't either. How could Tom and his band be so much better than everybody else? It's the same instruments, they wrote all the songs, but when the Heartbreakers were firing on all cylinders they levitated the whole building and we were all on the same page, eagerly nodding our heads in service to the songs.
We've got a sense of history. We heard Del Shannon on the radio, all the progenitors. And then we picked up guitars and some never put them down and came to Los Angeles and played the game and now we all know their names.
But rather than whore himself out to the Fortune 500, TP remains on his own journey, all in service to the music, money is a byproduct.
"I felt so good like anything was possible
Hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes"
We've been on cruise control for far too long. Boomers are all about lifestyle, they gave up moving forward years ago, but then they go to the show and they return to who they once were. Matrons are singing every word, men with lumpy bodies are dancing, that's the power of music to inspire and change your life, you're runnin' down a dream one more time.
We believed anything was possible. As long as the music was playing. And it was, on the radio, on the stereo, it was not portable but it was everywhere.
And it felt so good.
And it still does.
Last night Tom Petty and his band of merrymakers proved they belong in the pantheon, where very few other bands reside. Because instead of worrying about hits played by the last deejay they're all about getting in a room and making that sound.
And last night we were in the room with them and...
I tingle just thinking about it.
We were workin' on a mystery, and it led us to a life of incredible fulfillment, and when we hear these songs played live we don't even think of backing down, we recover from our breakdowns, we've got to come around there...
Again and again and again.
Music, when done right, makes magic moments.
AND LAST NIGHT WAS ONE OF THEM!
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Saturday 11 February 2017
Friday 10 February 2017
UTA Cancels Its Oscar Party
Peter Benedek was beaming at dinner Wednesday night and I had no idea what he was so happy and proud about.
Turned out UTA had canceled its Oscar party and was donating the 250k to the ACLU and was holding a rally, all in support of its client Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian director of "The Salesman."
I saw it. At the Royal in West L.A. A four o'clock screening on a weekday that was nearly sold out. I was the youngest person in the theatre, it's the oldsters and the youngsters who are keeping the cinemas alive, but I couldn't miss it, because of "A Separation."
One of the best films of the twenty first century, I highly recommend it. What did Depeche Mode say, people are people? Doesn't matter if they live in Iran, they've got families and aged relatives who need care and "A Separation" won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2012, deservedly so, and "The Salesman" is nominated in that category this year, but Asghar Farhadi couldn't come, because of the Trump travel ban.
That's when Jeremy Zimmer decided to take action.
What kind of bizarre world do we live in where the execs take more risk than the talent? I'm still waiting for the musicians to stand up. To get down in the dirt and try to hold back the momentum of the D.C. juggernaut. Because, after all, musicians represent everything they hate. Their free-flowing lifestyles with the drugs and the alcohol and the sex before marriage. You'd think they'd want to protect their interests, but they're afraid. They don't want to potentially alienate some customer who doesn't care anyway.
And I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, that anybody on the front lines is familiar with, and that's that the right wing works the refs. Say anything against them, anything in support of left wing positions, and they come out of the woodwork saying "There you go again," along with a bunch of false facts. The left wing doesn't do this, because the left wing is lazy and disorganized. But what ends up happening is the refs cave, the media and the newsmakers, and we're led to believe that the right wing position prevails. It doesn't, certainly not on abortion and immigration and so much more. So when are you gonna stand up for your rights?
Now I'm online all day. Checking the news apps and sites. How did I miss this UTA announcement?
So while Peter is talking at dinner I decide to Google. And it turns out the only mainstream publications who went with the story that day were the New York "Daily News" and the UK "Daily Mail." It was all over the trades, Deadline, "Variety" and the "Hollywood Reporter," but in the straight press, nada.
This is the world we live in. When you don't realize you're in a bubble. You think everybody knows what you're doing and they don't. Getting the word out is a long, sustained process. And it's less about spreading the word on one story than continuing to create stories.
So self-sacrifice is in. Turns out so many of us are willing to pay more taxes, willing to live without for the greater good. We are all in this together, right? Our only hope is for left and right to unite for economic security for all. That's what this is all about, jobs. No one really cares about foreigners, they just want food on the table and the foreigners are scapegoats belittled by an entitled class that has left the disadvantaged behind. I mean how the hell am I supposed to pull myself up by my bootstraps if I've got none and know nobody in power?
I believe in globalization, I believe manufacturing can't come back to America, or if it does, most of the work will be done by robots, but I do believe in the right of every person to have a roof over their head, food on the table and economic opportunity. Those are the problems we must solve, which does not involve giving the rich more money and supporting faded industries like coal which has been eclipsed by natural gas and fracking.
The world changes, the cheese gets moved. Ever since digitization we've had groups lamenting this, wanting to jet back to the past. But coal miners are like workers in CD plants, their heyday is in the rearview mirror.
Now after UTA announced their cancellation, WME said it was gonna start a PAC. And that's how it works, it's a domino effect, one person stands up and then the rest do. Imagine if Gaga said she would not perform at the Grammys, and if the show had to ultimately go dark or feature C-level talent. The word would get across. That's the power of a musician. Not that I think the Grammys need to go, not for this reason, but the point is you leverage your advantages and stand up for something.
And UTA just did this.
What are you gonna do?
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Turned out UTA had canceled its Oscar party and was donating the 250k to the ACLU and was holding a rally, all in support of its client Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian director of "The Salesman."
I saw it. At the Royal in West L.A. A four o'clock screening on a weekday that was nearly sold out. I was the youngest person in the theatre, it's the oldsters and the youngsters who are keeping the cinemas alive, but I couldn't miss it, because of "A Separation."
One of the best films of the twenty first century, I highly recommend it. What did Depeche Mode say, people are people? Doesn't matter if they live in Iran, they've got families and aged relatives who need care and "A Separation" won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2012, deservedly so, and "The Salesman" is nominated in that category this year, but Asghar Farhadi couldn't come, because of the Trump travel ban.
That's when Jeremy Zimmer decided to take action.
What kind of bizarre world do we live in where the execs take more risk than the talent? I'm still waiting for the musicians to stand up. To get down in the dirt and try to hold back the momentum of the D.C. juggernaut. Because, after all, musicians represent everything they hate. Their free-flowing lifestyles with the drugs and the alcohol and the sex before marriage. You'd think they'd want to protect their interests, but they're afraid. They don't want to potentially alienate some customer who doesn't care anyway.
And I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, that anybody on the front lines is familiar with, and that's that the right wing works the refs. Say anything against them, anything in support of left wing positions, and they come out of the woodwork saying "There you go again," along with a bunch of false facts. The left wing doesn't do this, because the left wing is lazy and disorganized. But what ends up happening is the refs cave, the media and the newsmakers, and we're led to believe that the right wing position prevails. It doesn't, certainly not on abortion and immigration and so much more. So when are you gonna stand up for your rights?
Now I'm online all day. Checking the news apps and sites. How did I miss this UTA announcement?
So while Peter is talking at dinner I decide to Google. And it turns out the only mainstream publications who went with the story that day were the New York "Daily News" and the UK "Daily Mail." It was all over the trades, Deadline, "Variety" and the "Hollywood Reporter," but in the straight press, nada.
This is the world we live in. When you don't realize you're in a bubble. You think everybody knows what you're doing and they don't. Getting the word out is a long, sustained process. And it's less about spreading the word on one story than continuing to create stories.
So self-sacrifice is in. Turns out so many of us are willing to pay more taxes, willing to live without for the greater good. We are all in this together, right? Our only hope is for left and right to unite for economic security for all. That's what this is all about, jobs. No one really cares about foreigners, they just want food on the table and the foreigners are scapegoats belittled by an entitled class that has left the disadvantaged behind. I mean how the hell am I supposed to pull myself up by my bootstraps if I've got none and know nobody in power?
I believe in globalization, I believe manufacturing can't come back to America, or if it does, most of the work will be done by robots, but I do believe in the right of every person to have a roof over their head, food on the table and economic opportunity. Those are the problems we must solve, which does not involve giving the rich more money and supporting faded industries like coal which has been eclipsed by natural gas and fracking.
The world changes, the cheese gets moved. Ever since digitization we've had groups lamenting this, wanting to jet back to the past. But coal miners are like workers in CD plants, their heyday is in the rearview mirror.
Now after UTA announced their cancellation, WME said it was gonna start a PAC. And that's how it works, it's a domino effect, one person stands up and then the rest do. Imagine if Gaga said she would not perform at the Grammys, and if the show had to ultimately go dark or feature C-level talent. The word would get across. That's the power of a musician. Not that I think the Grammys need to go, not for this reason, but the point is you leverage your advantages and stand up for something.
And UTA just did this.
What are you gonna do?
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5735&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=UTA+Cancels+Its+Oscar+Party
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The Power Pyramid
1. The Promoter
The most powerful entity in the music business. Because they write the checks. And on the road is where you make the most money. Unheralded and unknown, especially by the press, the labels get all the glory, but it's the promoters that keep the business healthy. Anybody can get their music on streaming services, not anybody can get a gig and get paid for it. Sure, there are open buildings, but have you got the money to guarantee rent, the ability to advertise and get people to come to the show? The promoter does all this for little upside. The promoter takes all the risk and you reap the glory. Of course the more unknown you are the worse deal you get. But if you can deliver, your splits improve.
2. The Agent
Of course you need a manager, but even more you need an agent, otherwise you're just sitting on the couch fantasizing. There's a lot of talk and little action with developing acts. How can you get an agent interested? Not so much by demonstrating that you're good, but by showing that you can draw an audience. You can sit at home concocting songs but if you want to get ahead you're better off honing your live show. Take every opportunity available, even for free at first. Not only do you want to expose people, you want to get better. No one gets good at a job until they actually do it. Not only do you have to perform the songs on stage, you have to engage the audience, which is harder than it looks. Now the funny thing about today's music business is agents find you, as do record labels. Nothing's hidden, everything's available, and if you can garner a live audience, if you can sell tickets, an agent will probably show up. Not that you cannot pitch yourself, but dragging an agent to a gig is only part of the problem, then you've got to deliver on stage and demonstrate you can build an audience. Sure, agents are interested in socials, but they're more interested in ticket sales. This is where the rubber meets the road, where it can't be faked. Big agents will probably not be interested at first. Sign with a small one if necessary. But know that agency relationships, unlike record deals, are fluid. You can move on with little obligation. The law varies from state to state, but this is the essence. The irony is if you become a superstar in most cases you no longer need an agent, you can negotiate directly with the promoter, but agents don't want to tell you this, they want to prove their necessity, as the agency they work for gets into other businesses and their importance wanes.
3. Record label
You don't need one unless you plan to get on the radio. And I'm talking Top 50 or Urban radio. Otherwise, the label can't do much for you and will take all the action in the process. The goal used to be to get a record deal, today you want to play live, where all the money is anyway. If you play music that can get in the Spotify Top 50, a major will be helpful. As for indies, you can tell your mother you got a deal but there will be little cash and no radio and they probably won't do much other than send out press kits and they'll take all the money if there is any. You want to do it yourself until you get traction. It's a funny business, everybody's trumpeting their relationships, when the statistic insiders care about is money. How much money is involved, how much are you making. Labels can delay your career and hold you up when things are not going well and it's more akin to the movie business than the music business of yore. The labels make big investments, they roll the dice on that which they believe will go nuclear. And, as you know, almost none does. Do you want to be tied up and play these odds?
So it comes down to you. Used to be it was about aligning yourself with the players because the barrier to entry was so high. Now the barrier to entry is nonexistent. You can make the music at home on your computer for bupkes, you can distribute it on streaming services for nearly nothing, but the hardest part is getting people to pay attention. And that's your job. Don't put the cart before the horse, don't try to gain attention before you deserve it. Because that just makes it harder to get people to give a look when you deserve it down the line. Your only hope is to empower the public. Press reaches fewer people than ever before. The papers review albums that go straight to the dumper. You're on your own, and that's a good thing. Because you can experiment, you can pivot, you can be in the game all the time. Used to be when recording was expensive and labels paid for it they dribbled out albums that they micro-managed, because of the risk involved. Now you can write a new song and put it on streaming services immediately, put a cover on YouTube, build a following with a Snapchat Story... The only problem is now the competition is everybody. Used to be if you jumped the hurdle and got a deal, that eliminated most of the competition, you were a member of the club, chances are word could be spread about you and you might be able to trade on it for the rest of your life. No longer. This mimics the world at large. Where the rich get richer and the poor get flat screens and the underclass believes it can make it on hopes and dreams but ultimately becomes disillusioned. Music is the land of wannabe hype. Everybody's spamming ad infinitum. How do you break through the clutter? With tunes and performance, and those are the hardest things. And even if you're great, it takes longer to make it today. So look for a spark, look for an increase in metrics, and if you don't get it, change what you're doing or give up. And there's no dishonor in giving up. It's fun to play music but not everyone can do it for a living. And if you want to become famous, there are much better ways than playing music, especially in this internet era. And if you want to become rich, being a musician is kind of like...being a lawyer. A profession that once put you ahead of the pack with a guaranteed income but no longer does. Sure, there are some lawyers making bank, but many graduates can't even get a legal job. Find your niche in life. If it's gonna be music, focus on your skills and try to do something different and know it's a long hard slog. Furthermore, you can be uber-talented and not make it. And sour grapes dooms you. Overnight success is rare, and rarely lasts. Think building blocks. And the best way to have a sustained career is to play live, garner an audience and move up the performance food chain.
The most powerful entity in the music business. Because they write the checks. And on the road is where you make the most money. Unheralded and unknown, especially by the press, the labels get all the glory, but it's the promoters that keep the business healthy. Anybody can get their music on streaming services, not anybody can get a gig and get paid for it. Sure, there are open buildings, but have you got the money to guarantee rent, the ability to advertise and get people to come to the show? The promoter does all this for little upside. The promoter takes all the risk and you reap the glory. Of course the more unknown you are the worse deal you get. But if you can deliver, your splits improve.
2. The Agent
Of course you need a manager, but even more you need an agent, otherwise you're just sitting on the couch fantasizing. There's a lot of talk and little action with developing acts. How can you get an agent interested? Not so much by demonstrating that you're good, but by showing that you can draw an audience. You can sit at home concocting songs but if you want to get ahead you're better off honing your live show. Take every opportunity available, even for free at first. Not only do you want to expose people, you want to get better. No one gets good at a job until they actually do it. Not only do you have to perform the songs on stage, you have to engage the audience, which is harder than it looks. Now the funny thing about today's music business is agents find you, as do record labels. Nothing's hidden, everything's available, and if you can garner a live audience, if you can sell tickets, an agent will probably show up. Not that you cannot pitch yourself, but dragging an agent to a gig is only part of the problem, then you've got to deliver on stage and demonstrate you can build an audience. Sure, agents are interested in socials, but they're more interested in ticket sales. This is where the rubber meets the road, where it can't be faked. Big agents will probably not be interested at first. Sign with a small one if necessary. But know that agency relationships, unlike record deals, are fluid. You can move on with little obligation. The law varies from state to state, but this is the essence. The irony is if you become a superstar in most cases you no longer need an agent, you can negotiate directly with the promoter, but agents don't want to tell you this, they want to prove their necessity, as the agency they work for gets into other businesses and their importance wanes.
3. Record label
You don't need one unless you plan to get on the radio. And I'm talking Top 50 or Urban radio. Otherwise, the label can't do much for you and will take all the action in the process. The goal used to be to get a record deal, today you want to play live, where all the money is anyway. If you play music that can get in the Spotify Top 50, a major will be helpful. As for indies, you can tell your mother you got a deal but there will be little cash and no radio and they probably won't do much other than send out press kits and they'll take all the money if there is any. You want to do it yourself until you get traction. It's a funny business, everybody's trumpeting their relationships, when the statistic insiders care about is money. How much money is involved, how much are you making. Labels can delay your career and hold you up when things are not going well and it's more akin to the movie business than the music business of yore. The labels make big investments, they roll the dice on that which they believe will go nuclear. And, as you know, almost none does. Do you want to be tied up and play these odds?
So it comes down to you. Used to be it was about aligning yourself with the players because the barrier to entry was so high. Now the barrier to entry is nonexistent. You can make the music at home on your computer for bupkes, you can distribute it on streaming services for nearly nothing, but the hardest part is getting people to pay attention. And that's your job. Don't put the cart before the horse, don't try to gain attention before you deserve it. Because that just makes it harder to get people to give a look when you deserve it down the line. Your only hope is to empower the public. Press reaches fewer people than ever before. The papers review albums that go straight to the dumper. You're on your own, and that's a good thing. Because you can experiment, you can pivot, you can be in the game all the time. Used to be when recording was expensive and labels paid for it they dribbled out albums that they micro-managed, because of the risk involved. Now you can write a new song and put it on streaming services immediately, put a cover on YouTube, build a following with a Snapchat Story... The only problem is now the competition is everybody. Used to be if you jumped the hurdle and got a deal, that eliminated most of the competition, you were a member of the club, chances are word could be spread about you and you might be able to trade on it for the rest of your life. No longer. This mimics the world at large. Where the rich get richer and the poor get flat screens and the underclass believes it can make it on hopes and dreams but ultimately becomes disillusioned. Music is the land of wannabe hype. Everybody's spamming ad infinitum. How do you break through the clutter? With tunes and performance, and those are the hardest things. And even if you're great, it takes longer to make it today. So look for a spark, look for an increase in metrics, and if you don't get it, change what you're doing or give up. And there's no dishonor in giving up. It's fun to play music but not everyone can do it for a living. And if you want to become famous, there are much better ways than playing music, especially in this internet era. And if you want to become rich, being a musician is kind of like...being a lawyer. A profession that once put you ahead of the pack with a guaranteed income but no longer does. Sure, there are some lawyers making bank, but many graduates can't even get a legal job. Find your niche in life. If it's gonna be music, focus on your skills and try to do something different and know it's a long hard slog. Furthermore, you can be uber-talented and not make it. And sour grapes dooms you. Overnight success is rare, and rarely lasts. Think building blocks. And the best way to have a sustained career is to play live, garner an audience and move up the performance food chain.
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Maren Morris At The Spotify Party
"Can I get a hallelujah
Can I get an amen"
Now that was refreshing.
In a world of beats, where there are no bands and every record lives in a computer, to see someone sing a song with no special effects accompanied by a group of skilled players is a revelation.
I've been overhyped. That's the problem with the modern paradigm, everybody's so wary of being ignored, of no one being aware of them, that they ramp up the hype machine to the point where it turns people off. I enjoyed "80s Mercedes" but didn't love it, but everyone from Nashville, every country music fan couldn't stop talking about the great hope who was going to eviscerate bro country.
But I didn't get her until I saw her.
Live shows have become like movies, with production and dancing, it's background, fodder for your social media feed, when you go to the show it's about you and the act might as well be a hologram, a vapid repository for your hopes and dreams who is positively empty.
But it didn't used to be this way.
Back before Netflix, back before staying home was hipper and more enjoyable than staying in, you went out to hear bands. Your local cover group, the new act coming through town you'd read about, it was a regular activity. But that's now gone. People will overpay to see stars, but clubs have gone by the wayside and deejays rule anyway, so to see Maren Morris do it the way it used to be...got my heart beating and my legs moving in a way they used to and stunningly still know how to.
She came out with her white guitar, with the high heels, tight pants and tube top, because let's be clear, she's young and she can make it work, but what closed the audience was not her appearance but her delivery, the way she sold it, with the music in her.
This was not a song written by committee, but something Maren definitely had a hand in, it felt like her... Remember when we believed the music because the people singing wrote it? I do, and this hearkened back to what once was and still survives to a degree in Nashville, the only place where the ability to pick a Gibson still matters, where rock and melody and harmony still live, even if they call it country.
So there's no light show, no slides, nothing to distract the audience from the performance. And performance is different from recording. Live is where you close people, where you make fans that'll carry you through, give you a career.
And when you're new and unknown, when you're not a household name, you've got to hit the stage and close the reluctant looky-loos right away.
I was relaxed on the couch with Daniel Glass, discussing the inane "Billboard Power 100," where they just shuffled the deck from the year before, talk about irrelevant, and then Maren hit the stage and started to play and I could sit no more, I had to get up and stand by the railing, and that's when my body started to move, the music infected me.
Now in the seventies I'd have been sipping a beer. Scanning the audience for potential. Because back then that's the only way you could connect with people, by going out. And it was tons more difficult but the grease was not only the alcohol, but the music. That's what got us out there. It was an integral part of our existence. Music was not evanescent, it was everything.
"But I find holy redemption
When I put this car in drive
Roll the windows down and turn up the dial"
Millennials have abandoned cars. Soon no one will drive. But the American pastime didn't used to be baseball, but getting behind the wheel, families used to take Sunday drives, but once you got your license you were itching to hit the highway, roll the windows down, put the pedal to the metal and turn it up!
Maren's singing about a universal experience we old people know by heart.
And when she sang tonight it brought me back to what once was.
AND IT FELT SO GOOD!
https://open.spotify.com/track/2Wud6xFXTtFrTtAaViGL0C?utm_source=phplist5733&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Maren+Morris+At+The+Spotify+Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouWQ25O-Mcg&utm_source=phplist5733&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Maren+Morris+At+The+Spotify+Party
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Can I get an amen"
Now that was refreshing.
In a world of beats, where there are no bands and every record lives in a computer, to see someone sing a song with no special effects accompanied by a group of skilled players is a revelation.
I've been overhyped. That's the problem with the modern paradigm, everybody's so wary of being ignored, of no one being aware of them, that they ramp up the hype machine to the point where it turns people off. I enjoyed "80s Mercedes" but didn't love it, but everyone from Nashville, every country music fan couldn't stop talking about the great hope who was going to eviscerate bro country.
But I didn't get her until I saw her.
Live shows have become like movies, with production and dancing, it's background, fodder for your social media feed, when you go to the show it's about you and the act might as well be a hologram, a vapid repository for your hopes and dreams who is positively empty.
But it didn't used to be this way.
Back before Netflix, back before staying home was hipper and more enjoyable than staying in, you went out to hear bands. Your local cover group, the new act coming through town you'd read about, it was a regular activity. But that's now gone. People will overpay to see stars, but clubs have gone by the wayside and deejays rule anyway, so to see Maren Morris do it the way it used to be...got my heart beating and my legs moving in a way they used to and stunningly still know how to.
She came out with her white guitar, with the high heels, tight pants and tube top, because let's be clear, she's young and she can make it work, but what closed the audience was not her appearance but her delivery, the way she sold it, with the music in her.
This was not a song written by committee, but something Maren definitely had a hand in, it felt like her... Remember when we believed the music because the people singing wrote it? I do, and this hearkened back to what once was and still survives to a degree in Nashville, the only place where the ability to pick a Gibson still matters, where rock and melody and harmony still live, even if they call it country.
So there's no light show, no slides, nothing to distract the audience from the performance. And performance is different from recording. Live is where you close people, where you make fans that'll carry you through, give you a career.
And when you're new and unknown, when you're not a household name, you've got to hit the stage and close the reluctant looky-loos right away.
I was relaxed on the couch with Daniel Glass, discussing the inane "Billboard Power 100," where they just shuffled the deck from the year before, talk about irrelevant, and then Maren hit the stage and started to play and I could sit no more, I had to get up and stand by the railing, and that's when my body started to move, the music infected me.
Now in the seventies I'd have been sipping a beer. Scanning the audience for potential. Because back then that's the only way you could connect with people, by going out. And it was tons more difficult but the grease was not only the alcohol, but the music. That's what got us out there. It was an integral part of our existence. Music was not evanescent, it was everything.
"But I find holy redemption
When I put this car in drive
Roll the windows down and turn up the dial"
Millennials have abandoned cars. Soon no one will drive. But the American pastime didn't used to be baseball, but getting behind the wheel, families used to take Sunday drives, but once you got your license you were itching to hit the highway, roll the windows down, put the pedal to the metal and turn it up!
Maren's singing about a universal experience we old people know by heart.
And when she sang tonight it brought me back to what once was.
AND IT FELT SO GOOD!
https://open.spotify.com/track/2Wud6xFXTtFrTtAaViGL0C?utm_source=phplist5733&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Maren+Morris+At+The+Spotify+Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouWQ25O-Mcg&utm_source=phplist5733&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Maren+Morris+At+The+Spotify+Party
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Thursday 9 February 2017
Steven Wilson's Chicago
https://open.spotify.com/album/6yOTvJnhQhGkfk8xisyMSw?utm_source=phplist5732&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Steven+Wilson%27s+Chicago
We wanted to get closer to the music.
We grew up in an era where music came out of a small speaker in the dashboard, a tiny speaker on the side of the all-in-one record player in our bedroom, the muffled speaker on the front of the console in the living room. Meanwhile, recording went from mono to twenty four tracks and there were things to hear, things you could hear, if you just got a better system and a pair of headphones, stereo was the computer of its era. You saved your pennies to afford a separates system with big speakers that allowed you to blast your tunes purely, without distortion, to allow the sound to envelop you.
And the people making this music knew this. It was a mutual acceleration into a technical future where sound was everything, which required the players knew how to play and the engineers knew how to record and you knew how to listen.
And listen we did. We didn't want no Pandora, background music, our tunes were positively foreground. We bought our albums, broke the shrinkwrap, dropped the needle and luxuriated in the sound over and over and over again, we had a limited number of albums and we played them.
And one of the albums I played was by Chicago Transit Authority. A double LP package for only a dollar more, this is the one with "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", the one with the protesters in the Windy City chanting "The whole world is watching...", there were no hits but there didn't need to be, music lived in our lairs, with FM radio as our best friend.
And that initial double LP made inroads over time, and what a concept it was, an expansion of Al Kooper's paradigm for Blood, Sweat & Tears, a big band with even more horns, Chicago was made up of PLAYERS! And suddenly they had hits and none of the albums were singles, as in they were doubles or more, and then they went for radio play and their credibility evaporated. But before that...
The linchpin was guitarist Terry Kath, who died via misadventure, putting a dent in a band that ultimately never recovered. How much of a rock and roll fan am I that I know his replacement was Donnie Dacus, only Kath could never be replaced, he might have been a player, but he was nearly as integral to his band as Jim Morrison was to the Doors. And you can hear that, on Steven Wilson's remix of "Make Me Smile," listen at 2:45, it's like you're six inches away and Terry is picking and you instantly see the difference between then and now, then you spoke with your instrument and today you vocalize on social media. You realize how damn good he was.
Not that the rest of the band is not stellar.
I'd be lying if I told you I liked "Chicago II" as much as the debut, but I bought it and know it but haven't played it in forever although I do hear the hits on the radio every once in a while, the aforementioned "Make Me Smile" and "25 Or 6 To 4," but listening now I'm reminded of that pre-distraction era, when you'd sit alone in your bedroom and play all four sides of the album, be taken away to another place, put in a mood, and when you listen to Steven Wilson's remix you'll be reminded too.
Yes, kind of a strange pick in theory, after King Crimson and Jethro Tull, but like the members of those bands, the ones in Chicago could play, and when you strip away the detritus you're positively wowed at what is revealed.
It's a one percent difference. But oh what a difference it makes!
Listen to the remix and then listen to the original. There's just a bit more separation, a bit more clarity, but it's like getting glasses after years of not knowing you're nearsighted, you're stunned at what you can see, what you can hear.
And on one hand I think nobody cares. These are ancient records that have been remastered and oversold since the CD era, but what seems like a rip-off ends up being a revelation, Steven Wilson has made these tracks new again. And what is revealed is MUSIC!
You remember music, don't you?
When bands like Led Zeppelin wouldn't deign to play the Grammys, never mind beg wankers like Ken Ehrlich for permission to do so. When bands said no instead of yes, why duet when the original needed nothing in addition. Want to impress me? Resurrect Sandy Denny to sing along with Robert Plant on "Battle Of Evermore," bring back Maggie Bell to sing vocal abrasives with Rod Stewart on "Every Picture Tells A Story," how about a little respect for the music that was the foundation of our lives before everybody got lost in the chatter that this connected world affords us, when the musicians were Gods and we consumed their work like manna from heaven.
Hearing this remix makes me want to lock the door with my iPhone outside, go on a drive with the music pouring out of the speakers, just immerse myself in the sound and reconnect with what once was and now that Steven Wilson has performed his magic forevermore will be.
That's right, play this stuff for young 'uns, they'll get it. Because it's crystal clear, it shows the power of players as opposed to performers, it's a religious experience.
It's the one minute and eleven second "So Much To Say, So Much To Give" that's my personal favorite, with its sing-songy middle, like being on an amusement park ride, I remember getting up off the couch and dropping the needle again and again, before one could isolate and replay with digital.
Night after night.
Day after day.
We used to listen to our music.
There were no mobile phones, never mind iPods or Walkmen, listening was a spiritual experience, a ritual. So what you need to do is pull up this music and plug in your headphones and marvel in the sound as it washes over you.
You'll be reminded of what once was and still is.
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We wanted to get closer to the music.
We grew up in an era where music came out of a small speaker in the dashboard, a tiny speaker on the side of the all-in-one record player in our bedroom, the muffled speaker on the front of the console in the living room. Meanwhile, recording went from mono to twenty four tracks and there were things to hear, things you could hear, if you just got a better system and a pair of headphones, stereo was the computer of its era. You saved your pennies to afford a separates system with big speakers that allowed you to blast your tunes purely, without distortion, to allow the sound to envelop you.
And the people making this music knew this. It was a mutual acceleration into a technical future where sound was everything, which required the players knew how to play and the engineers knew how to record and you knew how to listen.
And listen we did. We didn't want no Pandora, background music, our tunes were positively foreground. We bought our albums, broke the shrinkwrap, dropped the needle and luxuriated in the sound over and over and over again, we had a limited number of albums and we played them.
And one of the albums I played was by Chicago Transit Authority. A double LP package for only a dollar more, this is the one with "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", the one with the protesters in the Windy City chanting "The whole world is watching...", there were no hits but there didn't need to be, music lived in our lairs, with FM radio as our best friend.
And that initial double LP made inroads over time, and what a concept it was, an expansion of Al Kooper's paradigm for Blood, Sweat & Tears, a big band with even more horns, Chicago was made up of PLAYERS! And suddenly they had hits and none of the albums were singles, as in they were doubles or more, and then they went for radio play and their credibility evaporated. But before that...
The linchpin was guitarist Terry Kath, who died via misadventure, putting a dent in a band that ultimately never recovered. How much of a rock and roll fan am I that I know his replacement was Donnie Dacus, only Kath could never be replaced, he might have been a player, but he was nearly as integral to his band as Jim Morrison was to the Doors. And you can hear that, on Steven Wilson's remix of "Make Me Smile," listen at 2:45, it's like you're six inches away and Terry is picking and you instantly see the difference between then and now, then you spoke with your instrument and today you vocalize on social media. You realize how damn good he was.
Not that the rest of the band is not stellar.
I'd be lying if I told you I liked "Chicago II" as much as the debut, but I bought it and know it but haven't played it in forever although I do hear the hits on the radio every once in a while, the aforementioned "Make Me Smile" and "25 Or 6 To 4," but listening now I'm reminded of that pre-distraction era, when you'd sit alone in your bedroom and play all four sides of the album, be taken away to another place, put in a mood, and when you listen to Steven Wilson's remix you'll be reminded too.
Yes, kind of a strange pick in theory, after King Crimson and Jethro Tull, but like the members of those bands, the ones in Chicago could play, and when you strip away the detritus you're positively wowed at what is revealed.
It's a one percent difference. But oh what a difference it makes!
Listen to the remix and then listen to the original. There's just a bit more separation, a bit more clarity, but it's like getting glasses after years of not knowing you're nearsighted, you're stunned at what you can see, what you can hear.
And on one hand I think nobody cares. These are ancient records that have been remastered and oversold since the CD era, but what seems like a rip-off ends up being a revelation, Steven Wilson has made these tracks new again. And what is revealed is MUSIC!
You remember music, don't you?
When bands like Led Zeppelin wouldn't deign to play the Grammys, never mind beg wankers like Ken Ehrlich for permission to do so. When bands said no instead of yes, why duet when the original needed nothing in addition. Want to impress me? Resurrect Sandy Denny to sing along with Robert Plant on "Battle Of Evermore," bring back Maggie Bell to sing vocal abrasives with Rod Stewart on "Every Picture Tells A Story," how about a little respect for the music that was the foundation of our lives before everybody got lost in the chatter that this connected world affords us, when the musicians were Gods and we consumed their work like manna from heaven.
Hearing this remix makes me want to lock the door with my iPhone outside, go on a drive with the music pouring out of the speakers, just immerse myself in the sound and reconnect with what once was and now that Steven Wilson has performed his magic forevermore will be.
That's right, play this stuff for young 'uns, they'll get it. Because it's crystal clear, it shows the power of players as opposed to performers, it's a religious experience.
It's the one minute and eleven second "So Much To Say, So Much To Give" that's my personal favorite, with its sing-songy middle, like being on an amusement park ride, I remember getting up off the couch and dropping the needle again and again, before one could isolate and replay with digital.
Night after night.
Day after day.
We used to listen to our music.
There were no mobile phones, never mind iPods or Walkmen, listening was a spiritual experience, a ritual. So what you need to do is pull up this music and plug in your headphones and marvel in the sound as it washes over you.
You'll be reminded of what once was and still is.
--
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Wednesday 8 February 2017
Take A Stand
Colbert beat Fallon.
This is astounding news, since Colbert's show was a disaster that required the hiring of an executive producer, and was an endeavor far from what made Colbert a star to begin with.
Colbert made it on politics. Playing a character. Having an edge.
And then he went on at 11:30 on CBS and did David Letterman's show just like everybody else at that hour.
And that's a mistake. Never imitate, never follow, always test the limits, always be yourself.
Prior to Letterman late night was informational. Sure, there was comedy, but not every interview was scripted with a joke and intellectuals and writers got airtime too. But then David made it all about hijinks and everybody else did too. And Leno was canned and Fallon replaced him and the media couldn't stop fawning over the edgeless Jimmy, the nice guy who was nice to everybody.
But that paradigm is dead.
If you're playing to everybody, you're playing to nobody. That's the story of the past five years, the plethora of information that makes it nearly impossible to get your message heard. Feel lucky you have an audience at all. And satiate it, not those who don't care.
Trump taught us a lot of lessons. That you didn't have to pull your punches, that you could have a rough identity and people would identify with it. Now don't get your left wing knickers in a twist, of course the Donald has said heinous things, but what was most fascinating was that the media believed that his faux pas would derail his campaign and they did not. What are you not doing because you're afraid of the blowback that would actually help you?
Now don't think that late night television counts. It doesn't. The king of late night television is on in the morning, and his show is repeated 24/7, that is Howard Stern. Sirius XM has 31 million subscribers. And Sirius didn't even have a million before Stern signed on. Stern reaches more people than any of the late night nitwits. If you want to get your message across, go there. As for those bitching the show is adolescent bathroom humor, the truth is they don't listen and those who do appreciate Stern's honesty. It's a fine line Howard walks, he's an authority but pokes fun at himself. He's honed his act over forty years, and that's why the young 'uns can't compete.
But Colbert was the odd man out until he went anti-Trump.
Fallon's being nice to everybody, and his ratings are tanking.
Last year, Fallon averaged 3.6 million viewers. Now he doesn't even break 3. Colbert had 2.8 million viewers for the week of January 30, 12,000 more than Fallon!
So what this tells us is to ignore conventional wisdom. The publicists have their disinformation campaigns wherein they convince media outlets to print that which is not true. Furthermore, institutions avoid danger. Expecting a big protest at the Grammys? Not. Ken Ehrlich will threaten a ban, some odd person will make a statement, but the Grammys have to be safe for America. Which is an odd concept, since the President is not safe for America, but the point is by time it's broadcast by the usual suspects, it's wrong.
Second, every niche is hungry for truth and edge, they want people like them, with an identity. This is what musical performers are getting wrong, never mind the late night nitwits. They're wary of criticism by those who don't care. Trump got elected despite the left wing bitching. Ignore the haters, truly!
The opposition is working the refs. Don't succumb to the blowback.
Want to succeed tomorrow?
Have an opinion. When the press blows it up, stay steady. People will know your name, those who follow you will be impressed, and those who don't can be safely ignored. This is not the eighties where a limited number of acts were on MTV and spooned out singles from albums for years around the world. Even the biggest acts are unknown by many. I dare most people to sing two Taylor Swift songs and the average adult has no idea who the Weeknd is. Just like you don't know the number one and two video games and have never been to a live video game competition. If you're feeling holier-than-thou, the joke is on you. There's just too much information.
Think Velcro. It only works with hooks. The audience is the loops. Unless you have hooks, in your songs, in your personality, you won't get anywhere. Think rough, not smooth.
And know that everybody is lonely and looking for connection, and when they resonate with your truth and identity, you're golden.
Colbert stopped playing it safe and triumphed.
When are you gonna do the same thing?
"Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' Tops 'Tonight Show' in Total Viewers": http://nyti.ms/2ktlUNr
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This is astounding news, since Colbert's show was a disaster that required the hiring of an executive producer, and was an endeavor far from what made Colbert a star to begin with.
Colbert made it on politics. Playing a character. Having an edge.
And then he went on at 11:30 on CBS and did David Letterman's show just like everybody else at that hour.
And that's a mistake. Never imitate, never follow, always test the limits, always be yourself.
Prior to Letterman late night was informational. Sure, there was comedy, but not every interview was scripted with a joke and intellectuals and writers got airtime too. But then David made it all about hijinks and everybody else did too. And Leno was canned and Fallon replaced him and the media couldn't stop fawning over the edgeless Jimmy, the nice guy who was nice to everybody.
But that paradigm is dead.
If you're playing to everybody, you're playing to nobody. That's the story of the past five years, the plethora of information that makes it nearly impossible to get your message heard. Feel lucky you have an audience at all. And satiate it, not those who don't care.
Trump taught us a lot of lessons. That you didn't have to pull your punches, that you could have a rough identity and people would identify with it. Now don't get your left wing knickers in a twist, of course the Donald has said heinous things, but what was most fascinating was that the media believed that his faux pas would derail his campaign and they did not. What are you not doing because you're afraid of the blowback that would actually help you?
Now don't think that late night television counts. It doesn't. The king of late night television is on in the morning, and his show is repeated 24/7, that is Howard Stern. Sirius XM has 31 million subscribers. And Sirius didn't even have a million before Stern signed on. Stern reaches more people than any of the late night nitwits. If you want to get your message across, go there. As for those bitching the show is adolescent bathroom humor, the truth is they don't listen and those who do appreciate Stern's honesty. It's a fine line Howard walks, he's an authority but pokes fun at himself. He's honed his act over forty years, and that's why the young 'uns can't compete.
But Colbert was the odd man out until he went anti-Trump.
Fallon's being nice to everybody, and his ratings are tanking.
Last year, Fallon averaged 3.6 million viewers. Now he doesn't even break 3. Colbert had 2.8 million viewers for the week of January 30, 12,000 more than Fallon!
So what this tells us is to ignore conventional wisdom. The publicists have their disinformation campaigns wherein they convince media outlets to print that which is not true. Furthermore, institutions avoid danger. Expecting a big protest at the Grammys? Not. Ken Ehrlich will threaten a ban, some odd person will make a statement, but the Grammys have to be safe for America. Which is an odd concept, since the President is not safe for America, but the point is by time it's broadcast by the usual suspects, it's wrong.
Second, every niche is hungry for truth and edge, they want people like them, with an identity. This is what musical performers are getting wrong, never mind the late night nitwits. They're wary of criticism by those who don't care. Trump got elected despite the left wing bitching. Ignore the haters, truly!
The opposition is working the refs. Don't succumb to the blowback.
Want to succeed tomorrow?
Have an opinion. When the press blows it up, stay steady. People will know your name, those who follow you will be impressed, and those who don't can be safely ignored. This is not the eighties where a limited number of acts were on MTV and spooned out singles from albums for years around the world. Even the biggest acts are unknown by many. I dare most people to sing two Taylor Swift songs and the average adult has no idea who the Weeknd is. Just like you don't know the number one and two video games and have never been to a live video game competition. If you're feeling holier-than-thou, the joke is on you. There's just too much information.
Think Velcro. It only works with hooks. The audience is the loops. Unless you have hooks, in your songs, in your personality, you won't get anywhere. Think rough, not smooth.
And know that everybody is lonely and looking for connection, and when they resonate with your truth and identity, you're golden.
Colbert stopped playing it safe and triumphed.
When are you gonna do the same thing?
"Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' Tops 'Tonight Show' in Total Viewers": http://nyti.ms/2ktlUNr
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Tuesday 7 February 2017
Steven Wilson's Benefit
http://spoti.fi/2lj4gdX?utm_source=phplist5730&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Steven+Wilson%27s+Benefit
RADIOACTIVE TOY
Prog rock bands were kind of like hair bands. They ascended from nowhere and imploded overnight. And one can argue that the pretentiousness killed prog rock, the capes and the multi-sided albums, but unlike hair bands, prog rock did not begin with cynicism, rather it was an exploration, a group of players who knew how to play who decided to test limits, before punk came along as a reaction to all of it and made simplicity a virtue, one can argue that the ability to play has never recovered, it was a badge of honor to be able to not only wail, but noodle, hang together as a band, when Rick Wakeman and Yes peaked they were positively deserving of the attention.
Stunningly, prog rock still survives, but it's a minor scene, sub-metal, for diehards only, but one of its foremost practitioners is Steven Wilson, most famous for fronting the band Porcupine Tree, and long before they had their ill-fated Lava deal, they were making music deserving attention, and as evidence of this I point to this live rendition of "Radioactive Toy."
I only discovered it the other night, on my late night hejira through Mr. Wilson's oeuvre, I searched for the studio take on the plethora of streaming services and all that came up was this live iteration.
"It's the last song of the evening, it's called 'Radioactive Toy.'"
Live recordings usually pale in comparison to the studio versions. Maybe they've got more energy, but they fall flat, the instruments don't soar, there's not the same atmosphere, but not here.
"Run through forests on a hot summer day
Trying to break down walls of numbing pain
Give me the freedom to destroy
Give me radioactive toy"
You're immediately taken away, this is not the immediacy of the Top Forty, this is an aural journey to a distant landscape which only like-minded people inhabit, back when going to the show was a religious experience wherein you paid fealty to the performers, taking photos of yourself and your buddies was anathema. Hang in there until the guitar starts to wail, you'll be stunned you're the only one aware of this 1997 rendition of a 1992 original, when Wilson implores the audience to sing along, saying "You!" and everybody comes in on time with the correct words, whew!
(Meanwhile, if you're interested in the studio original, for some reason it's not on streaming services, but it is on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2jWsuxt)?utm_source=phplist5730&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Steven+Wilson%27s+Benefit
TRAINS
Having been blown away by this live rendition of "Radioactive Toy," I decided to go deeper, I decided to see what the most played Porcupine Tree songs on Spotify happened to be. And I was stunned that my personal favorite was number one, with 6,232,614 streams.
Andy Karp had signed Porcupine Tree to Jason Flom's Lava label. A full service enterprise akin to Bob Krasnow's Elektra, no two Lava acts sounded alike, they were as different as Kid Rock and Matchbox Twenty and the Corrs and Porcupine Tree.
This was back before streaming, before Bluetooth in cars, before the satellite radio revolution, back when you had a CD changer in the trunk and had your six favorite discs installed, one of mine was Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia," I used to pull up "Trains" and drive around L.A. in a trance, nodding my head, singing along.
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING
I don't believe in remixes. Because by time they're done redoing the record it no longer resembles the original, and it's the one I know I want to hear, kind of like some tracks should only be heard in mono, certainly not fake stereo. So when I heard Steven Wilson remixed Jethro Tull's "Benefit" I shrugged, I did not care.
"Benefit."
Purists will tell you the best Tull album is the first, "This Was," with Mick Abrahams. And the funny thing is once you go back to it you see how special it was, I can see fans being turned off by what followed, but I didn't hear "This Was" first, I got hooked by "Benefit."
Now at this late date I'll tell you the best is the second, "Stand Up," which did, as in when you opened the gatefold cover the band popped up, but I have such memories of "Benefit."
It started with "To Cry You A Song," the one the critics hated, because it was not far removed from riff rock. And it was one quite powerful riff, but it was the soundtrack to one of the most frightening moments of my life, the first weekend of college, when John Morosani gave us a ride back from the President's reception in his Trans Am and slid through the corners at a hundred miles an hour on Route 125, laughing all the way.
I was sitting on the transmission hump in the back, where there was no seatbelt, I saw my life ending before classes had even begun. But I lived through the experience, Moron's time at driving school paid off. And after removing "Benefit" from the 8-track he inserted Frijid Pink, which I have not heard since, but after that ride I needed to own "Benefit."
And late at night, long after midnight, when I cannot relax, I oftentimes pull up aged classics on Spotify and wallow in the sound. But what's fascinating is these records have been reissued and remastered so many times that you oftentimes get hooked on songs you weren't planning to hear to begin with. Like Elton John's "Bad Side Of The Moon."
"Tumbleweed Connection" is a better LP, but at this late date it's the American debut I keep spinning, it's the sound, like it was cut in a cathedral, just listen to "Sixty Years On" or "The King Must Die," you'll get what I mean. But the remastered version of the American debut has a studio take of "Bad Side Of The Moon," which most people have never heard but dedicated fans know, because it's the opening cut on side two of "11/17/70," one of the four albums Elton put out that year, a live recording that originated as a radio broadcast on that date. The rest of the tracks had been previously released, all except for "Bad Side Of The Moon" and "Can I Put You On."
But, a studio take of "Can I Put You On" came out, on the soundtrack to "Friends," with the dynamite title track and...
"I work for the foundry for a penny and a half a day
Like a blind street musician I never see those who pay"
Now you're a member of a secret society, you're one of the very few who's ever heard this cut, and if you're an Elton fan you'll swoon, first and foremost there's that intro guitar sound, enough to make you feel you've died and gone to heaven, and then Elton tickles the ivories and sings about that blind street musician and you feel like you've been transported to Newcastle Upon Tyne, even if you've never been there before.
And this is what my late night listening is like, I get inspired to hear one record and that leads me to different tracks and that initial Elton album was a staple on my turntable at the same time as I was spinning "Benefit" so I searched for that Tull album and found this Steven Wilson remix. And of course I started with side two, so I could hear "To Cry You A Song," but it was the following track, "A Time For Everything," that was the revelation.
Hold on to your hat, grip your seat, put on your headphones and be prepared to be blown away.
First there's Martin Barre's stinging guitar, it always got you in the gut, but today you can feel the sting.
And Ian Anderson's vocal is not buried in the mix, he's at the center and you can hear every word, along with his flute, and suddenly you realize you can hear each and every instrument and it sounds like the original only more vibrant and more immediate, it's a REVELATION!
SOSSITY YOU'RE A WOMAN
This is ultimately the best cut on "Benefit," and you need to listen to it, you need to hear this entire remix of "Benefit," even the unearthed bonus track "17," which is dark in a way most people who hate Tull don't realize is an element of the canon.
"Sossity" is the closest to what came before, what came thereafter was gigantic, "Aqualung" made Tull superstars, and then they pushed the envelope with "Thick As A Brick" and became legends, because that's what you did back then, you used your success as a platform to innovate, to jump off and do something different.
And if you think these LPs are set in amber, irrelevant, you've got to listen to Steven Wilson's remixes, because he makes them sound like they were cut today, they're so alive. He demands that Tull be completely reevaluated, and you never would have heard these recordings if it weren't for streaming services, wallow in your good fortune.
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RADIOACTIVE TOY
Prog rock bands were kind of like hair bands. They ascended from nowhere and imploded overnight. And one can argue that the pretentiousness killed prog rock, the capes and the multi-sided albums, but unlike hair bands, prog rock did not begin with cynicism, rather it was an exploration, a group of players who knew how to play who decided to test limits, before punk came along as a reaction to all of it and made simplicity a virtue, one can argue that the ability to play has never recovered, it was a badge of honor to be able to not only wail, but noodle, hang together as a band, when Rick Wakeman and Yes peaked they were positively deserving of the attention.
Stunningly, prog rock still survives, but it's a minor scene, sub-metal, for diehards only, but one of its foremost practitioners is Steven Wilson, most famous for fronting the band Porcupine Tree, and long before they had their ill-fated Lava deal, they were making music deserving attention, and as evidence of this I point to this live rendition of "Radioactive Toy."
I only discovered it the other night, on my late night hejira through Mr. Wilson's oeuvre, I searched for the studio take on the plethora of streaming services and all that came up was this live iteration.
"It's the last song of the evening, it's called 'Radioactive Toy.'"
Live recordings usually pale in comparison to the studio versions. Maybe they've got more energy, but they fall flat, the instruments don't soar, there's not the same atmosphere, but not here.
"Run through forests on a hot summer day
Trying to break down walls of numbing pain
Give me the freedom to destroy
Give me radioactive toy"
You're immediately taken away, this is not the immediacy of the Top Forty, this is an aural journey to a distant landscape which only like-minded people inhabit, back when going to the show was a religious experience wherein you paid fealty to the performers, taking photos of yourself and your buddies was anathema. Hang in there until the guitar starts to wail, you'll be stunned you're the only one aware of this 1997 rendition of a 1992 original, when Wilson implores the audience to sing along, saying "You!" and everybody comes in on time with the correct words, whew!
(Meanwhile, if you're interested in the studio original, for some reason it's not on streaming services, but it is on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2jWsuxt)?utm_source=phplist5730&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Steven+Wilson%27s+Benefit
TRAINS
Having been blown away by this live rendition of "Radioactive Toy," I decided to go deeper, I decided to see what the most played Porcupine Tree songs on Spotify happened to be. And I was stunned that my personal favorite was number one, with 6,232,614 streams.
Andy Karp had signed Porcupine Tree to Jason Flom's Lava label. A full service enterprise akin to Bob Krasnow's Elektra, no two Lava acts sounded alike, they were as different as Kid Rock and Matchbox Twenty and the Corrs and Porcupine Tree.
This was back before streaming, before Bluetooth in cars, before the satellite radio revolution, back when you had a CD changer in the trunk and had your six favorite discs installed, one of mine was Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia," I used to pull up "Trains" and drive around L.A. in a trance, nodding my head, singing along.
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING
I don't believe in remixes. Because by time they're done redoing the record it no longer resembles the original, and it's the one I know I want to hear, kind of like some tracks should only be heard in mono, certainly not fake stereo. So when I heard Steven Wilson remixed Jethro Tull's "Benefit" I shrugged, I did not care.
"Benefit."
Purists will tell you the best Tull album is the first, "This Was," with Mick Abrahams. And the funny thing is once you go back to it you see how special it was, I can see fans being turned off by what followed, but I didn't hear "This Was" first, I got hooked by "Benefit."
Now at this late date I'll tell you the best is the second, "Stand Up," which did, as in when you opened the gatefold cover the band popped up, but I have such memories of "Benefit."
It started with "To Cry You A Song," the one the critics hated, because it was not far removed from riff rock. And it was one quite powerful riff, but it was the soundtrack to one of the most frightening moments of my life, the first weekend of college, when John Morosani gave us a ride back from the President's reception in his Trans Am and slid through the corners at a hundred miles an hour on Route 125, laughing all the way.
I was sitting on the transmission hump in the back, where there was no seatbelt, I saw my life ending before classes had even begun. But I lived through the experience, Moron's time at driving school paid off. And after removing "Benefit" from the 8-track he inserted Frijid Pink, which I have not heard since, but after that ride I needed to own "Benefit."
And late at night, long after midnight, when I cannot relax, I oftentimes pull up aged classics on Spotify and wallow in the sound. But what's fascinating is these records have been reissued and remastered so many times that you oftentimes get hooked on songs you weren't planning to hear to begin with. Like Elton John's "Bad Side Of The Moon."
"Tumbleweed Connection" is a better LP, but at this late date it's the American debut I keep spinning, it's the sound, like it was cut in a cathedral, just listen to "Sixty Years On" or "The King Must Die," you'll get what I mean. But the remastered version of the American debut has a studio take of "Bad Side Of The Moon," which most people have never heard but dedicated fans know, because it's the opening cut on side two of "11/17/70," one of the four albums Elton put out that year, a live recording that originated as a radio broadcast on that date. The rest of the tracks had been previously released, all except for "Bad Side Of The Moon" and "Can I Put You On."
But, a studio take of "Can I Put You On" came out, on the soundtrack to "Friends," with the dynamite title track and...
"I work for the foundry for a penny and a half a day
Like a blind street musician I never see those who pay"
Now you're a member of a secret society, you're one of the very few who's ever heard this cut, and if you're an Elton fan you'll swoon, first and foremost there's that intro guitar sound, enough to make you feel you've died and gone to heaven, and then Elton tickles the ivories and sings about that blind street musician and you feel like you've been transported to Newcastle Upon Tyne, even if you've never been there before.
And this is what my late night listening is like, I get inspired to hear one record and that leads me to different tracks and that initial Elton album was a staple on my turntable at the same time as I was spinning "Benefit" so I searched for that Tull album and found this Steven Wilson remix. And of course I started with side two, so I could hear "To Cry You A Song," but it was the following track, "A Time For Everything," that was the revelation.
Hold on to your hat, grip your seat, put on your headphones and be prepared to be blown away.
First there's Martin Barre's stinging guitar, it always got you in the gut, but today you can feel the sting.
And Ian Anderson's vocal is not buried in the mix, he's at the center and you can hear every word, along with his flute, and suddenly you realize you can hear each and every instrument and it sounds like the original only more vibrant and more immediate, it's a REVELATION!
SOSSITY YOU'RE A WOMAN
This is ultimately the best cut on "Benefit," and you need to listen to it, you need to hear this entire remix of "Benefit," even the unearthed bonus track "17," which is dark in a way most people who hate Tull don't realize is an element of the canon.
"Sossity" is the closest to what came before, what came thereafter was gigantic, "Aqualung" made Tull superstars, and then they pushed the envelope with "Thick As A Brick" and became legends, because that's what you did back then, you used your success as a platform to innovate, to jump off and do something different.
And if you think these LPs are set in amber, irrelevant, you've got to listen to Steven Wilson's remixes, because he makes them sound like they were cut today, they're so alive. He demands that Tull be completely reevaluated, and you never would have heard these recordings if it weren't for streaming services, wallow in your good fortune.
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Betsy DeVos
I went to public school. When taxes were high, there was enough paper for the mimeo machine and Mr. McCann taught music in the basement.
We pledged allegiance, learned that anybody could be President, but it don't really happen that way at all anymore.
Ever get the feeling the game is rigged? Those who voted for Trump famously say this, but I feel this way too. I grew up and never saw a Ferrari. An exotic vacation was a family trip on Eastern Airlines to Florida, a journey I never took, and we all agreed that Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor were speaking the truth.
Of course there was that blip on the radar screen called the Vietnam War, and as one got older it scared the living daylights out of you, because you realized you might get your ass shot off in an unjustified meaningless conflict, but LBJ countered his aggression with his Great Society plan and even Richard Nixon opened China and now I'm looking for the silver lining in Trump's victory and I can't find one.
I know, he won, we lost. I got it. Fair and square. I won't even complain about the Comey letter or Russian hacking. Hell, I won't even bring up the lopsided popular vote. But I will bring up gerrymandering. Where Democrats win the House but lose it. Where Republicans lose their seats to right wing zealots. Where our country is pulled in a direction where it's every man for himself, women and minorities are second-class citizens, and the rich run herd over the rest of us.
Amway is a pyramid scheme. And its heir, with no experience in public education, seemingly no experience in education at all, is now in charge of the learning of the nation's students. Expect the gap to get bigger. Expect the disadvantaged to fall further behind. Meanwhile, all the blame is heaped upon the backs of unions.
Did I have lousy teachers in school? Of course! Did people get tenure who I wish had not? Of course! But please explain to me what society you want, one in which no one can ever lose their job or a pure meritocracy with no safety net.
The truth is there are inefficiencies in all businesses. Money falls through the cracks. But there's a fiction that when it comes to government, all dollars must be accounted for, spent wisely, or else the beast needs to be starved.
Well, education is being starved right now.
I went to one of America's finest colleges. My father paid full freight. And the truth is that although I learned tons outside of the classroom, the teachers I had in my public high school were more influential. Mrs. Hurley taught me to challenge authority. Mr. Harrity taught me how to write. Mrs. Spitalny took a student with a progress report in Algebra, who was doing it by trial and error, and made him the smartest guy in the class, with an A+ in both Geometry and Alegbra II. And none of these educators got rich, they were doing it for the love of inspiring students.
And there was no religious instruction. And we thought that the world was our oyster.
And today most students cannot contain two opposing thoughts in their brain at the same time. They don't know how to analyze a situation. The focus is on creating automatons who can perform on the test when the truth is education should be about developing the person, making not only good workers, but good contributors, people who make our society whole.
But a segment of the population wants to leave the rest behind. Take their God and their privilege to create private enclaves where the rest of us are left out and told either to follow in lockstep or be forgotten.
How did we get here? Where everybody believes they're entitled to every dollar they make and the general good is irrelevant, where those who triumphed financially believe they can run herd over those of us who have not?
So the same Republicans who fought Trump now support him.
And the President is a one man disinformation campaign.
And there's no accountability because the proletariat can't understand the issues and isn't paying attention anyway.
We are in this together folks. And the best candidate for a job may be a woman. But not this woman.
P.S. We may be winning the immigration battle, but not only have we lost the education battle, but we're going down for the count on financial issues and truth just went out the window. And if you wonder how the President can lie and get away with it I'll point to an entertainment industry that lies for a living, which the news media does not call them on, busy boosting their false heroes. All those shows the newspaper says sell out? Oftentimes they do not. But if the media can't get it right on the small stuff, what are the odds it can get it right on the big stuff? What are the odds that an abused public is gonna be outraged when a President spews falsehoods when everybody is lying and cheating to get ahead? Bill Gates is a national hero, yet Microsoft succeeded by charging for Windows whether it was installed or not.
P.P.S. It can't happen here, but it has. Ever since election day I've been in a black mood. And I understand those who voted for Trump out of frustration with the status quo, but this guy has thrown the baby out with the bathwater, he's a bull in a china shop. And if you think he's making you more safe, getting you a better job with a higher wage, keeping the immigrant from taking your gig, then you should have lobbied your congressperson to vote against DeVos, because you got a bad education, you can't see that they want your support, but they don't want you, you're just a pawn in their game.
P.P.P.S. The only way we can reach the vast swath of voters and change this country's direction is via entertainment, because it's the only thing people are paying attention to. It's incumbent upon movies, television and musicians and other artists to stand up and speak truth. But they're all silent, because they're afraid of jeopardizing their income. Tech companies lobby against immigration nonsense, musicians sign sponsorship deals. One can argue strongly that the plight of the native American didn't reach national consciousness until Marlon Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather on stage to accept his Oscar. He was derided at the time, made fun of, but he brought the issue to a head. And his performance in the "Godfather" lives on while I challenge you to name the head of the Academy at that time, never mind the channel the show was broadcast on. You've got to start somewhere. There are more of us than them. Our only hope is to mobilize. This is a long hard slog that so far is going in the wrong direction and until you and me start standing up and organizing, we're doomed.
We pledged allegiance, learned that anybody could be President, but it don't really happen that way at all anymore.
Ever get the feeling the game is rigged? Those who voted for Trump famously say this, but I feel this way too. I grew up and never saw a Ferrari. An exotic vacation was a family trip on Eastern Airlines to Florida, a journey I never took, and we all agreed that Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor were speaking the truth.
Of course there was that blip on the radar screen called the Vietnam War, and as one got older it scared the living daylights out of you, because you realized you might get your ass shot off in an unjustified meaningless conflict, but LBJ countered his aggression with his Great Society plan and even Richard Nixon opened China and now I'm looking for the silver lining in Trump's victory and I can't find one.
I know, he won, we lost. I got it. Fair and square. I won't even complain about the Comey letter or Russian hacking. Hell, I won't even bring up the lopsided popular vote. But I will bring up gerrymandering. Where Democrats win the House but lose it. Where Republicans lose their seats to right wing zealots. Where our country is pulled in a direction where it's every man for himself, women and minorities are second-class citizens, and the rich run herd over the rest of us.
Amway is a pyramid scheme. And its heir, with no experience in public education, seemingly no experience in education at all, is now in charge of the learning of the nation's students. Expect the gap to get bigger. Expect the disadvantaged to fall further behind. Meanwhile, all the blame is heaped upon the backs of unions.
Did I have lousy teachers in school? Of course! Did people get tenure who I wish had not? Of course! But please explain to me what society you want, one in which no one can ever lose their job or a pure meritocracy with no safety net.
The truth is there are inefficiencies in all businesses. Money falls through the cracks. But there's a fiction that when it comes to government, all dollars must be accounted for, spent wisely, or else the beast needs to be starved.
Well, education is being starved right now.
I went to one of America's finest colleges. My father paid full freight. And the truth is that although I learned tons outside of the classroom, the teachers I had in my public high school were more influential. Mrs. Hurley taught me to challenge authority. Mr. Harrity taught me how to write. Mrs. Spitalny took a student with a progress report in Algebra, who was doing it by trial and error, and made him the smartest guy in the class, with an A+ in both Geometry and Alegbra II. And none of these educators got rich, they were doing it for the love of inspiring students.
And there was no religious instruction. And we thought that the world was our oyster.
And today most students cannot contain two opposing thoughts in their brain at the same time. They don't know how to analyze a situation. The focus is on creating automatons who can perform on the test when the truth is education should be about developing the person, making not only good workers, but good contributors, people who make our society whole.
But a segment of the population wants to leave the rest behind. Take their God and their privilege to create private enclaves where the rest of us are left out and told either to follow in lockstep or be forgotten.
How did we get here? Where everybody believes they're entitled to every dollar they make and the general good is irrelevant, where those who triumphed financially believe they can run herd over those of us who have not?
So the same Republicans who fought Trump now support him.
And the President is a one man disinformation campaign.
And there's no accountability because the proletariat can't understand the issues and isn't paying attention anyway.
We are in this together folks. And the best candidate for a job may be a woman. But not this woman.
P.S. We may be winning the immigration battle, but not only have we lost the education battle, but we're going down for the count on financial issues and truth just went out the window. And if you wonder how the President can lie and get away with it I'll point to an entertainment industry that lies for a living, which the news media does not call them on, busy boosting their false heroes. All those shows the newspaper says sell out? Oftentimes they do not. But if the media can't get it right on the small stuff, what are the odds it can get it right on the big stuff? What are the odds that an abused public is gonna be outraged when a President spews falsehoods when everybody is lying and cheating to get ahead? Bill Gates is a national hero, yet Microsoft succeeded by charging for Windows whether it was installed or not.
P.P.S. It can't happen here, but it has. Ever since election day I've been in a black mood. And I understand those who voted for Trump out of frustration with the status quo, but this guy has thrown the baby out with the bathwater, he's a bull in a china shop. And if you think he's making you more safe, getting you a better job with a higher wage, keeping the immigrant from taking your gig, then you should have lobbied your congressperson to vote against DeVos, because you got a bad education, you can't see that they want your support, but they don't want you, you're just a pawn in their game.
P.P.P.S. The only way we can reach the vast swath of voters and change this country's direction is via entertainment, because it's the only thing people are paying attention to. It's incumbent upon movies, television and musicians and other artists to stand up and speak truth. But they're all silent, because they're afraid of jeopardizing their income. Tech companies lobby against immigration nonsense, musicians sign sponsorship deals. One can argue strongly that the plight of the native American didn't reach national consciousness until Marlon Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather on stage to accept his Oscar. He was derided at the time, made fun of, but he brought the issue to a head. And his performance in the "Godfather" lives on while I challenge you to name the head of the Academy at that time, never mind the channel the show was broadcast on. You've got to start somewhere. There are more of us than them. Our only hope is to mobilize. This is a long hard slog that so far is going in the wrong direction and until you and me start standing up and organizing, we're doomed.
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Monday 6 February 2017
You Don't Say No
The dirty little secret is most "Shark Tank" deals don't close anyway. Because the devil is in the details and most sellers obfuscate and when the sharks dig down deep and do their due diligence they often walk away.
But why do the pitchers walk away?
I have "Shark Tank" on permanent record on my DVR. And I'll be honest, I'm a bit o.d.'ed on the concept, which is that everybody can come up with a good idea and get rich and that those who are already rich need to be respected for their acumen. In a world where most managers never find a hit band, just because you're successful in one enterprise, why do I believe you should succeed in another?
But one thing rich people have is relationships. And relationships are everything. Poor people believe the idea is king. That if people only knew what they were selling, they'd triumph. But in today's world it's almost impossible to get your message across. And what the rich people with relationships do is get your message in front of others, to see if it sinks or swims.
And the truth is that is even getting harder.
Used to be if you had a TV show, you'd made it. Now there are in excess of 400 scripted shows a year and the odds of syndication are almost nonexistent so getting a deal is just getting started. A record company, if you're lucky, can get you on Top Forty radio. Other than that, it can't do much. And I know this is overwhelming but if you get an opportunity...
Don't turn it down.
So I'm watching last Friday's "Shark Tank" and a guy who makes earplugs turns down Mr. Wonderful's offer. What is he thinking? That he can go it alone? That being on television is enough to put his company over the top? How can he be so dumb?
You need help. You need a team. You cannot do it alone.
Of course there are exceptions. And if you're the kind of person who looks to the exceptions to justify your efforts, good luck, chances are you're gonna hit a brick wall. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. You've got to give up to get.
The problem today is everybody's too sophisticated, everybody's wary of being ripped-off. They don't know their partners...are not interested unless they can make money. Want to excite a potential partner? Show them how much money they can make, don't try to keep them at arm's length.
You need friends. You cannot make it without them. You're counting on their effort to push you through. A network of many far exceeds the power of you, unless you're a superstar.
That's the conundrum. One person can change the world. But they rarely do it alone. When help is offered, TAKE IT!
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But why do the pitchers walk away?
I have "Shark Tank" on permanent record on my DVR. And I'll be honest, I'm a bit o.d.'ed on the concept, which is that everybody can come up with a good idea and get rich and that those who are already rich need to be respected for their acumen. In a world where most managers never find a hit band, just because you're successful in one enterprise, why do I believe you should succeed in another?
But one thing rich people have is relationships. And relationships are everything. Poor people believe the idea is king. That if people only knew what they were selling, they'd triumph. But in today's world it's almost impossible to get your message across. And what the rich people with relationships do is get your message in front of others, to see if it sinks or swims.
And the truth is that is even getting harder.
Used to be if you had a TV show, you'd made it. Now there are in excess of 400 scripted shows a year and the odds of syndication are almost nonexistent so getting a deal is just getting started. A record company, if you're lucky, can get you on Top Forty radio. Other than that, it can't do much. And I know this is overwhelming but if you get an opportunity...
Don't turn it down.
So I'm watching last Friday's "Shark Tank" and a guy who makes earplugs turns down Mr. Wonderful's offer. What is he thinking? That he can go it alone? That being on television is enough to put his company over the top? How can he be so dumb?
You need help. You need a team. You cannot do it alone.
Of course there are exceptions. And if you're the kind of person who looks to the exceptions to justify your efforts, good luck, chances are you're gonna hit a brick wall. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. You've got to give up to get.
The problem today is everybody's too sophisticated, everybody's wary of being ripped-off. They don't know their partners...are not interested unless they can make money. Want to excite a potential partner? Show them how much money they can make, don't try to keep them at arm's length.
You need friends. You cannot make it without them. You're counting on their effort to push you through. A network of many far exceeds the power of you, unless you're a superstar.
That's the conundrum. One person can change the world. But they rarely do it alone. When help is offered, TAKE IT!
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It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
http://spoti.fi/2ljeXNx
I had to hear "It's Alright, Ma."
"Highway 61 Revisited" is the legend, but I prefer the previous LP, "Bringing It All Back Home." "Bringing It All Back Home" is a bit darker, a bit less trebly, but it does not contain "Like A Rolling Stone," so people defer to "Highway 61 Revisited." And one of the memorable moments of my life is driving in my sister's Sienna outside of Minneapolis and seeing that highway sign, you pinch yourself, you don't think these landmarks really exist. And "Highway 61 Revisited" also has the put-down song "Ballad Of A Thin Man," with its annihilation of Mr. Jones, and "Desolation Row" and "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry," which Al Kooper made famous on side two of "Super Session" with Stephen Stills, but "Bringing It All Back Home" has "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
Back in '65, almost nobody had seen the D. A. Pennebaker film, with Dylan nonchalantly discarding the cards with the lyrics upon them. But that was the reality of Bob's early career, the audience was always late to the party, there were early adopters who got the memo and then with hits the hoi polloi went back and realized his brilliance.
And "Bringing It All Back Home" also has "Maggie's Farm," which became part of the revolutionary lexicon back in the sixties, we weren't gonna work on her farm no more.
And there's "Mr. Tambourine Man," which the Byrds ultimately made so famous.
And "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," which the Byrds performed too, along with Joan Baez and so many more.
And then there's the almost creepy "Gates Of Eden," wherein Dylan spits truth and we can just try and digest this manna from heaven.
But the piece de resistance is "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
"Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying"
Trying. This was '65, with Lyndon Johnson in office, when rather than agitating for change you dropped out, went on your own hejira. It wasn't quite defeat, but more akin to liberation.
And in the next verse, Bob utters words so famous that most people don't even know he wrote them, they've become part of the fabric of our nation...
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
Dylan's dropping wisdom left and right in this seven and a half minute song, I listen to it every week, it's as fresh as yesterday, but when I searched in Spotify that's not the version that came up, not the studio take, but a live iteration from a double CD package entitled "The Bootleg Series Volume 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 - Concert At Philharmonic Hall." I owned it, but I don't think I ever really heard it. But listening over the Christmas holiday it became my favorite album.
Because of the immediacy.
What did Woody Guthrie's guitar say, "This Machine Kills Fascists"? Well, this double live album wakes you up and inspires you all at once. We live in an era where it's all about the trappings. You don't even take the stage without a huge investment in hair and makeup, certainly not in New York City.
And the album starts with "The Times They Are A-Changin'," which comes across as a warning, not a detailed accounting of what's going on, but what is to come. Imagine if you bought a record, broke the shrinkwrap and when you dropped the needle you found out what was gonna happen TOMORROW!
But the revelation is "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)," which I wouldn't be surprised to find John Lennon spun incessantly before composing "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)."
And the truth is "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" graces the "Last Waltz" package, but it never impressed me much there. It was just another album track on "Another Side Of Bob Dylan," but in this live version...whew!
She invited him into her arms, then kicked him to the curb.
This never happens in today's musical world. Egos rule. No one is bruised. If you're famous you must be rich, you must always win. But this woman tied Dylan's emotions in a knot and sure, the song's got the character of a kiss-off, but you can tell he's wounded. He's vulnerable in a way we're unprepared for. And even though this track was cut fifty years ago, it sounds like he's telling you what happened last night, literally.
And be sure to listen to "Who Killed Davey Moore," a questioning of responsibility for the death of a boxer akin to today's most prominent artist singing about CTE instead of groveling to perform at the Super Bowl.
But the song that brought me to the album was "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
"Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred"
Ain't that the truth, it's the bloviating religious zealots who live in glass houses. This was written back when religion was dying, before every Grammy Award winner thanked the Lord, before anybody playing popular music worth listening to attended the Grammys.
And the song is littered with famous phrases. Dylan reunited with the Band in '74 and when he sang "But even the President of the United States, Sometimes must have to stand naked" the audience cheered. Nixon resigned months later, if only today's music could comment so honestly about and have such an impact upon our present Presidential predicament.
"Advertising signs they con
You into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you"
America is about selling you false hope. You can be thin, you can be rich, you can triumph, when the truth is unless you dismiss the tsunami of b.s. and accept who you are you've truly got no chance. Back then hipsters abandoned football, today the lemmings drink at the trough of Super Bowl commercials, believing that corporations will be their savior, having lost faith in artists, and why not, since the artists are sucking at the tit of the corporations harder than anybody.
"For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destiny
Speak jealously of them that are free
Raise what they grow up to be
Nothing more than something they invest in"
This was back when there was a false belief that institutions cared about their inhabitants, the students, the workers, before colleges became a way for bloated administrations to become rich and corporations wanted no employees at all, everybody became a contract worker, lifetime employment was a pipe dream. Dylan's poking fun at the puffed-up mindless who are placing their faith in fake institutions, now the people who used to question these enterprises prop them up and the proletariat is even more desperate.
"While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape by society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in"
Used to be it was the middle class that was bent out of shape by society, now it's the unthinking lower class, which wants to give everybody above them the middle finger not knowing the joke is upon them, but they lost all hope long ago and if they're gonna sink further the rest of us have to go with them. Furthermore, these words are the essence of internet hate. They want to drag you down into their lair of failure. Try to evade it, but it's hard.
"While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security"
Let me see, there's a little man in the sky, who sees everything you do, and he's gonna save you when you die and if you don't believe it beware on your way to the abortion clinic.
"For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely"
We're all gonna die. And whether it be Ted Bundy or Lee Atwater regretting their behavior on their death bed don't let this be you, don't spend your life standing up for something that will become irrelevant when you pass, which you most certainly will.
"And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only"
He's willing to lay down his truth, he doesn't care about the consequences, because duplicity is a loser's game and you only get one go-round. But no one with a profile is following in Dylan's footsteps, they're all afraid of blowback and loss, sponsorships will evaporate into thin air, television invitations will dry up, you'll be ostracized in a world where there's nothing so important as being a member of the team, but an artist sits outside the game and speaks his truth.
And when you listen to this live concert from 1964 you'll be overwhelmed, stunned that someone cares that much, has thought about it and is standing naked on stage with just his guitar and his words knowing they're so powerful that if you just listen to them your life will be changed, you'll see the world differently, you'll be empowered.
That's the power of a song.
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I had to hear "It's Alright, Ma."
"Highway 61 Revisited" is the legend, but I prefer the previous LP, "Bringing It All Back Home." "Bringing It All Back Home" is a bit darker, a bit less trebly, but it does not contain "Like A Rolling Stone," so people defer to "Highway 61 Revisited." And one of the memorable moments of my life is driving in my sister's Sienna outside of Minneapolis and seeing that highway sign, you pinch yourself, you don't think these landmarks really exist. And "Highway 61 Revisited" also has the put-down song "Ballad Of A Thin Man," with its annihilation of Mr. Jones, and "Desolation Row" and "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry," which Al Kooper made famous on side two of "Super Session" with Stephen Stills, but "Bringing It All Back Home" has "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
Back in '65, almost nobody had seen the D. A. Pennebaker film, with Dylan nonchalantly discarding the cards with the lyrics upon them. But that was the reality of Bob's early career, the audience was always late to the party, there were early adopters who got the memo and then with hits the hoi polloi went back and realized his brilliance.
And "Bringing It All Back Home" also has "Maggie's Farm," which became part of the revolutionary lexicon back in the sixties, we weren't gonna work on her farm no more.
And there's "Mr. Tambourine Man," which the Byrds ultimately made so famous.
And "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," which the Byrds performed too, along with Joan Baez and so many more.
And then there's the almost creepy "Gates Of Eden," wherein Dylan spits truth and we can just try and digest this manna from heaven.
But the piece de resistance is "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
"Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying"
Trying. This was '65, with Lyndon Johnson in office, when rather than agitating for change you dropped out, went on your own hejira. It wasn't quite defeat, but more akin to liberation.
And in the next verse, Bob utters words so famous that most people don't even know he wrote them, they've become part of the fabric of our nation...
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
Dylan's dropping wisdom left and right in this seven and a half minute song, I listen to it every week, it's as fresh as yesterday, but when I searched in Spotify that's not the version that came up, not the studio take, but a live iteration from a double CD package entitled "The Bootleg Series Volume 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 - Concert At Philharmonic Hall." I owned it, but I don't think I ever really heard it. But listening over the Christmas holiday it became my favorite album.
Because of the immediacy.
What did Woody Guthrie's guitar say, "This Machine Kills Fascists"? Well, this double live album wakes you up and inspires you all at once. We live in an era where it's all about the trappings. You don't even take the stage without a huge investment in hair and makeup, certainly not in New York City.
And the album starts with "The Times They Are A-Changin'," which comes across as a warning, not a detailed accounting of what's going on, but what is to come. Imagine if you bought a record, broke the shrinkwrap and when you dropped the needle you found out what was gonna happen TOMORROW!
But the revelation is "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)," which I wouldn't be surprised to find John Lennon spun incessantly before composing "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)."
And the truth is "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" graces the "Last Waltz" package, but it never impressed me much there. It was just another album track on "Another Side Of Bob Dylan," but in this live version...whew!
She invited him into her arms, then kicked him to the curb.
This never happens in today's musical world. Egos rule. No one is bruised. If you're famous you must be rich, you must always win. But this woman tied Dylan's emotions in a knot and sure, the song's got the character of a kiss-off, but you can tell he's wounded. He's vulnerable in a way we're unprepared for. And even though this track was cut fifty years ago, it sounds like he's telling you what happened last night, literally.
And be sure to listen to "Who Killed Davey Moore," a questioning of responsibility for the death of a boxer akin to today's most prominent artist singing about CTE instead of groveling to perform at the Super Bowl.
But the song that brought me to the album was "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
"Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred"
Ain't that the truth, it's the bloviating religious zealots who live in glass houses. This was written back when religion was dying, before every Grammy Award winner thanked the Lord, before anybody playing popular music worth listening to attended the Grammys.
And the song is littered with famous phrases. Dylan reunited with the Band in '74 and when he sang "But even the President of the United States, Sometimes must have to stand naked" the audience cheered. Nixon resigned months later, if only today's music could comment so honestly about and have such an impact upon our present Presidential predicament.
"Advertising signs they con
You into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you"
America is about selling you false hope. You can be thin, you can be rich, you can triumph, when the truth is unless you dismiss the tsunami of b.s. and accept who you are you've truly got no chance. Back then hipsters abandoned football, today the lemmings drink at the trough of Super Bowl commercials, believing that corporations will be their savior, having lost faith in artists, and why not, since the artists are sucking at the tit of the corporations harder than anybody.
"For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destiny
Speak jealously of them that are free
Raise what they grow up to be
Nothing more than something they invest in"
This was back when there was a false belief that institutions cared about their inhabitants, the students, the workers, before colleges became a way for bloated administrations to become rich and corporations wanted no employees at all, everybody became a contract worker, lifetime employment was a pipe dream. Dylan's poking fun at the puffed-up mindless who are placing their faith in fake institutions, now the people who used to question these enterprises prop them up and the proletariat is even more desperate.
"While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape by society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in"
Used to be it was the middle class that was bent out of shape by society, now it's the unthinking lower class, which wants to give everybody above them the middle finger not knowing the joke is upon them, but they lost all hope long ago and if they're gonna sink further the rest of us have to go with them. Furthermore, these words are the essence of internet hate. They want to drag you down into their lair of failure. Try to evade it, but it's hard.
"While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security"
Let me see, there's a little man in the sky, who sees everything you do, and he's gonna save you when you die and if you don't believe it beware on your way to the abortion clinic.
"For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely"
We're all gonna die. And whether it be Ted Bundy or Lee Atwater regretting their behavior on their death bed don't let this be you, don't spend your life standing up for something that will become irrelevant when you pass, which you most certainly will.
"And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only"
He's willing to lay down his truth, he doesn't care about the consequences, because duplicity is a loser's game and you only get one go-round. But no one with a profile is following in Dylan's footsteps, they're all afraid of blowback and loss, sponsorships will evaporate into thin air, television invitations will dry up, you'll be ostracized in a world where there's nothing so important as being a member of the team, but an artist sits outside the game and speaks his truth.
And when you listen to this live concert from 1964 you'll be overwhelmed, stunned that someone cares that much, has thought about it and is standing naked on stage with just his guitar and his words knowing they're so powerful that if you just listen to them your life will be changed, you'll see the world differently, you'll be empowered.
That's the power of a song.
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Sunday 5 February 2017
The Super Bowl
You're sitting on the couch thinking how much you hate the New England Patriots. How the whole event seems long in the tooth. The commercials are not funny and Gaga is boring and you're just letting it play out, because with Brady and Belichick you just never know.
And then they started to come back.
I remember when the team was a joke, when they were still called the "Boston" Patriots and their stadium was a suburban dump.
I remember when our nation was shocked when Joe Namath not only predicted a victory, but pulled it off.
I remember when MTV counterprogrammed the halftime show. When all of America was addicted to television and football reigned.
Before the players were revealed to beat up their spouses and an overpaid commissioner in bed with the owners didn't know how to respond.
Before it was clear that a life in the game meant a hobbled one thereafter, certainly physically, and oftentimes mentally.
Before our whole nation decided they just did not need the NFL anymore and ratings tanked.
I've seen the X Games peak and fade. That's right, the boomers believed in football, baseball was their parents' sport, and then Gen X'ers cottoned to extreme sports and now snowboarding is dying and video games are everything. We live in a virtual world where busting up your body for entertainment just doesn't play anymore.
And then Tom Brady and his band of merrymen turn over the table and you just don't know what to think.
It was good to see the Falcons winning. An unheralded faceless team made the Patriots look like amateurs. But like the Pinkertons chasing Butch and Sundance, with Brady and Edelman on the field you just could not relax.
And then they were back in it and then they were gonna win, you just knew it.
Bob Costas famously says sports are a metaphor for life. So what lessons did we learn tonight?
Never give up. And the truth is most people do. Because of peer pressure.
Experience counts. The Patriots were never defeated in their brains. They knew they still had a chance to win. Even as the minutes kept ticking and victory looked more and more impossible.
As for the Falcons, they were playing not to lose, and that's rarely a winning strategy.
So you're sitting in front of the television, a passe pastime if there ever was one. You're enduring the commercials. You've taken hours out of your Sunday. And you feel smugly justified believing this ritual is over the hill.
And then the Patriots start to move the ball and you tune out the penumbra, the commercials and the commentators cease to exist, you know Brady, et al, are going to win, because that's what they do.
Excellence. We trumpet those with little of it. Sam Smith is a good act, but an arena tour on the first album?
How about Lady Gaga, whose most famous song is a Madonna rip-off. She doesn't have a manager who knows the rule, which is you never let someone upstage you, the chances of dominating the game are insignificant. Prince did it, he got the trophy and now it's been retired, conquer new worlds. But in today's environment no one can give up the exposure, everybody wants to be seen by millions, no one has any self-respect.
The big winner tonight? Alfa-Romeo. Which went from unknown to known in an evening. They got their money's worth with their sponsorship. As for the commercials... They broke the number one rule, which is you're supposed to remember the product, which was rare. Then again, after Apple established this paradigm in 1984, no one could equal it. But they keep dyin' tryin'.
Which brings us back to the game.
What you want from entertainment is surprise. You want to be caught off guard, you're ready for the unexpected.
And Gaga didn't deliver on this whatsoever. She flew down like Pink into a sea of sycophants we've seen at every recent Super Bowl and then she sang songs that most of don't care about. Why? Because she could, there was no art there. Remember when it was a badge of honor not to dance? To let the music speak for itself? Then you're over fifty, music has become about the trappings, sold with less than memorable tunes, which is why the whole scene is second-rate. Do you really think that anybody cares about Gaga who didn't before? I think you're wrong.
And the crass commercialism of the NFL makes one barf. They'd sell signage at a funeral. It's amazing they even give time to the game anymore.
And there are so many rules that not only is the game hard to comprehend, it turns on whims. The penalties. The resulting first downs, the moving of the ball into touchdown territory. It seems that the infractions are more important than most of the plays.
But it is a sport of human beings. And when you saw the Patriots move the ball down the field, it was a thing of beauty. It made you a believer. Had you thinking you could win in your own life, which is a message that needs to be heard.
So that's it 'til fall folks. Since the Patriots came back we'll remember they won, whereas if the Falcons had emerged victorious we would have instantly forgotten it.
But the institution of the Super Bowl needs a rethink. It's long in the tooth. It's waiting to be superseded.
But when played right the game still works.
It worked right tonight.
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And then they started to come back.
I remember when the team was a joke, when they were still called the "Boston" Patriots and their stadium was a suburban dump.
I remember when our nation was shocked when Joe Namath not only predicted a victory, but pulled it off.
I remember when MTV counterprogrammed the halftime show. When all of America was addicted to television and football reigned.
Before the players were revealed to beat up their spouses and an overpaid commissioner in bed with the owners didn't know how to respond.
Before it was clear that a life in the game meant a hobbled one thereafter, certainly physically, and oftentimes mentally.
Before our whole nation decided they just did not need the NFL anymore and ratings tanked.
I've seen the X Games peak and fade. That's right, the boomers believed in football, baseball was their parents' sport, and then Gen X'ers cottoned to extreme sports and now snowboarding is dying and video games are everything. We live in a virtual world where busting up your body for entertainment just doesn't play anymore.
And then Tom Brady and his band of merrymen turn over the table and you just don't know what to think.
It was good to see the Falcons winning. An unheralded faceless team made the Patriots look like amateurs. But like the Pinkertons chasing Butch and Sundance, with Brady and Edelman on the field you just could not relax.
And then they were back in it and then they were gonna win, you just knew it.
Bob Costas famously says sports are a metaphor for life. So what lessons did we learn tonight?
Never give up. And the truth is most people do. Because of peer pressure.
Experience counts. The Patriots were never defeated in their brains. They knew they still had a chance to win. Even as the minutes kept ticking and victory looked more and more impossible.
As for the Falcons, they were playing not to lose, and that's rarely a winning strategy.
So you're sitting in front of the television, a passe pastime if there ever was one. You're enduring the commercials. You've taken hours out of your Sunday. And you feel smugly justified believing this ritual is over the hill.
And then the Patriots start to move the ball and you tune out the penumbra, the commercials and the commentators cease to exist, you know Brady, et al, are going to win, because that's what they do.
Excellence. We trumpet those with little of it. Sam Smith is a good act, but an arena tour on the first album?
How about Lady Gaga, whose most famous song is a Madonna rip-off. She doesn't have a manager who knows the rule, which is you never let someone upstage you, the chances of dominating the game are insignificant. Prince did it, he got the trophy and now it's been retired, conquer new worlds. But in today's environment no one can give up the exposure, everybody wants to be seen by millions, no one has any self-respect.
The big winner tonight? Alfa-Romeo. Which went from unknown to known in an evening. They got their money's worth with their sponsorship. As for the commercials... They broke the number one rule, which is you're supposed to remember the product, which was rare. Then again, after Apple established this paradigm in 1984, no one could equal it. But they keep dyin' tryin'.
Which brings us back to the game.
What you want from entertainment is surprise. You want to be caught off guard, you're ready for the unexpected.
And Gaga didn't deliver on this whatsoever. She flew down like Pink into a sea of sycophants we've seen at every recent Super Bowl and then she sang songs that most of don't care about. Why? Because she could, there was no art there. Remember when it was a badge of honor not to dance? To let the music speak for itself? Then you're over fifty, music has become about the trappings, sold with less than memorable tunes, which is why the whole scene is second-rate. Do you really think that anybody cares about Gaga who didn't before? I think you're wrong.
And the crass commercialism of the NFL makes one barf. They'd sell signage at a funeral. It's amazing they even give time to the game anymore.
And there are so many rules that not only is the game hard to comprehend, it turns on whims. The penalties. The resulting first downs, the moving of the ball into touchdown territory. It seems that the infractions are more important than most of the plays.
But it is a sport of human beings. And when you saw the Patriots move the ball down the field, it was a thing of beauty. It made you a believer. Had you thinking you could win in your own life, which is a message that needs to be heard.
So that's it 'til fall folks. Since the Patriots came back we'll remember they won, whereas if the Falcons had emerged victorious we would have instantly forgotten it.
But the institution of the Super Bowl needs a rethink. It's long in the tooth. It's waiting to be superseded.
But when played right the game still works.
It worked right tonight.
--
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Virality Is On Facebook
We are living in the era of people power.
I know that's confounding, in a world where the President is whipsawing the country, but the truth is we've seen a transition from a top-down to a bottom-up world, and institutions cannot fathom this. It's why Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Hillary campaign could not understand the ascendance of Bernie Sanders. It's why the media keeps complaining about fake news. The truth is the lunatics have taken over the asylum, and we're the lunatics.
And it all happens on Facebook.
While the music industry can't stop bitching about YouTube, it has failed to realize that YouTube is passe. Forget revenue streams, the issue in music is breaking and building acts. And that is now happening on other platforms. Which embed YouTube videos. Like Facebook. The story doesn't get started on YouTube, it gets started on Facebook.
Now youngsters skew towards Snapchat and Instagram and...those are different platforms. Kind of like Twitter.
Twitter is for newshounds. It's where you go to find out what's happening right now. And when you hear people bitch that it's too hard for them to use, forget them, they are not interested in breaking news. And if someone is posting to Twitter their everyday movements laugh hard and tell them to get back to Facebook. And if you're bloviating on Twitter and you're not famous forget it, no one cares. Twitter is a top-down medium, where the in-the-know and famous pontificate and the minions spread the word.
But on Facebook, the minions rule. Facebook is not for stars, it's for you and me.
Facebook used to be about bragging, and to a degree it still is, but that's moved on to Instagram, where it's so much easier. I won't quite say that Facebook is for truth, but it is the central square, the commons house that we thought disappeared but did not.
So if it happens in the "New York Times" and it's not spread on Facebook, it's like it did not happen at all. Same deal for the WSJ and the WaPo too. They may do the research, write the stories, but it's a dead end unless their work is shared on Facebook. Which is why the press is meaningless, why the NYT's anti-Trump stories did not bring him down, they were not shared on Facebook!
We've been used to sitting at home and letting the big boys control our game. But the big boys became inured to the bucks and started to wallow in their power and we didn't like it anymore. As for the Trump victory, that's a rearguard conclusion evidencing the disdain the population has for the powers-that-be, they're sick of being ignored. Think about this, the twenty first century is an endless march against those who thought they were in power. From the music industry and Napster to politics today.
Standing Rock, the Women's March, the airport protests, these must not be seen in the context of the sixties but through the lens of now. The people have power. And they organize and spread the word online. Did you see what just happened in Romania? The government thought it could get away with decriminalizing corruption but the public said no way and the officials backed down.
This happened in the Middle East, with the Arab Spring.
And now it's happening in America.
And it's not only politics, it's culture too.
We keep hearing how big these stars are but they're not. They're just being propped up by an archaic system. Whereas if entertainment companies could get the word spread on Facebook, they'd make more revenue than ever. But the music industry is appealing to niches and the movie industry is appealing to the lowest common denominator and therefore it's all push and no pull, no one wants to spread the word. But people are hungry for information to spread.
Did you see Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer on SNL?
I find that show creepy. Because the writing is so bad. I actually watched half an hour last night and didn't laugh once.
But today the NYT featured the McCarthy clip from later in the show. When I told Felice about it, sent it to her, she said it was old news, she'd already seen it multiple times on Facebook.
Are you getting this? This is where most of older America gets its news, its information, its talking points.
There were no other SNL clips in Felice's feed, because people have an incredible quality detector, they only want the best. But if you ring their bell...
So it's only the completely out of it who are getting their news from traditional sources, whether it be SNL or Fox or MSNBC. They're for junkies. But it's mass we're interested in, it's mass that moves mountains.
And you build mass on Facebook.
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I know that's confounding, in a world where the President is whipsawing the country, but the truth is we've seen a transition from a top-down to a bottom-up world, and institutions cannot fathom this. It's why Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Hillary campaign could not understand the ascendance of Bernie Sanders. It's why the media keeps complaining about fake news. The truth is the lunatics have taken over the asylum, and we're the lunatics.
And it all happens on Facebook.
While the music industry can't stop bitching about YouTube, it has failed to realize that YouTube is passe. Forget revenue streams, the issue in music is breaking and building acts. And that is now happening on other platforms. Which embed YouTube videos. Like Facebook. The story doesn't get started on YouTube, it gets started on Facebook.
Now youngsters skew towards Snapchat and Instagram and...those are different platforms. Kind of like Twitter.
Twitter is for newshounds. It's where you go to find out what's happening right now. And when you hear people bitch that it's too hard for them to use, forget them, they are not interested in breaking news. And if someone is posting to Twitter their everyday movements laugh hard and tell them to get back to Facebook. And if you're bloviating on Twitter and you're not famous forget it, no one cares. Twitter is a top-down medium, where the in-the-know and famous pontificate and the minions spread the word.
But on Facebook, the minions rule. Facebook is not for stars, it's for you and me.
Facebook used to be about bragging, and to a degree it still is, but that's moved on to Instagram, where it's so much easier. I won't quite say that Facebook is for truth, but it is the central square, the commons house that we thought disappeared but did not.
So if it happens in the "New York Times" and it's not spread on Facebook, it's like it did not happen at all. Same deal for the WSJ and the WaPo too. They may do the research, write the stories, but it's a dead end unless their work is shared on Facebook. Which is why the press is meaningless, why the NYT's anti-Trump stories did not bring him down, they were not shared on Facebook!
We've been used to sitting at home and letting the big boys control our game. But the big boys became inured to the bucks and started to wallow in their power and we didn't like it anymore. As for the Trump victory, that's a rearguard conclusion evidencing the disdain the population has for the powers-that-be, they're sick of being ignored. Think about this, the twenty first century is an endless march against those who thought they were in power. From the music industry and Napster to politics today.
Standing Rock, the Women's March, the airport protests, these must not be seen in the context of the sixties but through the lens of now. The people have power. And they organize and spread the word online. Did you see what just happened in Romania? The government thought it could get away with decriminalizing corruption but the public said no way and the officials backed down.
This happened in the Middle East, with the Arab Spring.
And now it's happening in America.
And it's not only politics, it's culture too.
We keep hearing how big these stars are but they're not. They're just being propped up by an archaic system. Whereas if entertainment companies could get the word spread on Facebook, they'd make more revenue than ever. But the music industry is appealing to niches and the movie industry is appealing to the lowest common denominator and therefore it's all push and no pull, no one wants to spread the word. But people are hungry for information to spread.
Did you see Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer on SNL?
I find that show creepy. Because the writing is so bad. I actually watched half an hour last night and didn't laugh once.
But today the NYT featured the McCarthy clip from later in the show. When I told Felice about it, sent it to her, she said it was old news, she'd already seen it multiple times on Facebook.
Are you getting this? This is where most of older America gets its news, its information, its talking points.
There were no other SNL clips in Felice's feed, because people have an incredible quality detector, they only want the best. But if you ring their bell...
So it's only the completely out of it who are getting their news from traditional sources, whether it be SNL or Fox or MSNBC. They're for junkies. But it's mass we're interested in, it's mass that moves mountains.
And you build mass on Facebook.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5725&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Virality+Is+On+Facebook
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