https://spoti.fi/2HaSocc
"I could come from miles away
Ain't got
No place to stay"
"Surfin' U.S.A." was the first Beach Boys album I bought.
Before that came Jan & Dean. I remember the first time I heard "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena," it was from the 16 transistor boom box hanging on a cord at the pavilion at Jennings Beach where I went to buy french fries.
Some tracks you only need to hear once. In the case of "Little Old Lady From Pasadena," it was a confluence of factors, the backup vocals, the "Go Granny Go!" and the twisted lyrics about a woman driving a Super Stock Dodge when I was years from my license and it all happened in Pasadena which I somehow did not know was the home of the Rose Parade, it was just another exotic place in California, the state where I begged my mother to move us every damn day. For a better life.
It's where everything came from. The music, the TV, the culture!
New York was about business.
California was about lifestyle!
And I forced my mother to buy me the single of "Little Old Lady From Pasadena," and after that I purchased possibly my favorite album of all time, Jan & Dean's "Command Performance," a live LP that let me dream of my home in California, even if it only existed in my mind.
The album opened with "Surf City," and having not yet reached puberty, I had no idea of the attraction of two girls for every boy, but I certainly understood the energy. This was long before music became dark. The California surf sound was upbeat, it was about living as opposed to sitting at home playing the yet to be invented video games.
And it wasn't only surfing, it was also cars. The story was told in "Dead Man's Curve." People still argue where that is on Sunset Boulevard. But one thing's for sure, Jan Berry cracked up his Corvette and that was the end of Jan & Dean's prodigious recording career. Oh, there were some releases from the can, but the act was dead.
And that just left us with the Beach Boys. Which I was well aware of because of "I Get Around" in the jukebox at Nutmeg Lanes and the fact that "Sidewalk Surfin'" was a cover of the Beach Boys' "Catch A Wave" with new lyrics, about skateboarding before it was called that. They sing about the tricks and it makes you just want to ride, which we did, on steel wheels, before they went to urethane.
So I decided to buy a Beach Boys album. In mono, I didn't want the heavy needle of my record player ruining a stereo record. And the LP I picked was their second, with a giant wave on front and pictures of the band members on the back that had me trying to comb my hair like Dennis Wilson for hours.
And just like "Sidewalk Surfin'" had new lyrics for a Beach Boys tune, "Surfin' U.S.A." had new lyrics for Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen."
Yup, that was the title track of the album I bought, "Surfin' U.S.A."
But contrary to legend, the "Surfin' U.S.A." album wasn't just a hit surrounded by dreck. First and foremost, it contained another hit, "Shut Down." Back when I had no idea what taching it up meant.
And there was a cover of Dick Dale's "Let's Go Trippin'," which I heard here first, back in an era where most surf hits were regional, i.e. played on the west coast only.
But it was the originals that floated my boat.
Like "Lonely Sea." I'd lie on my floor and close my eyes and imagine that the people who made this music understood me. It was moody, it set your mind free in a way that today's hit music does not. Not that you ever heard "Lonely Sea" on the radio.
And Mike Love might have sung the hits "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Shut Down," but Brian took the lead on "Lonely Sea" and...
"Farmer's Daughter."
It was the second track on the LP. Right after "Surfin' U.S.A." It was upbeat, but heartfelt, not mindless, due to the aforementioned Brian Wilson lead vocal.
You go to see him now and wince when he can't hit the notes. But once upon a time Brian Wilson was not only an instrumental genius, but a vocal one too. So sweet, so smooth, positively ethereal, his voice was not of this Earth, it seemed to emanate from above.
Now we all knew the joke, even at that age.
But "Farmer's Daughter" is no joke.
It's a dream, a memory of an encounter, a meeting, what once was, when Brian met...
The farmer's daughter.
"Glad to
Help you plow your fields
Farmer's daughter
Might be
Just a couple of days
Clean up
Rest and on my way"
There's nothing salacious, it's not even implied, it's positively G-rated, but with this exquisite sound, oh-so meaningful.
"So long
Better leave your land
Many thanks
It was mighty grand
I do
Hope to see you again
Farmer's daughter"
It's not even two minutes long, "Farmer's Daughter" clocks in at 1:53, but it's a whole story, a mental movie. And I haven't been able to get it out of my head after playing it on Sirius XM last week.
That's how songs are. Most slide off of you. But when there's a melody and a melodious vocal the track becomes embedded in your brain, and when the switch is flipped it sticks with you for weeks, even though you might not have thought of it for years.
The amazing thing is this track still exists. It hasn't degraded over time. You can jet back to 1963 and it's still bright, not sepia-toned. You can see the girls on the beach, the boys in their woodies, the good times. Brian and the Boys bring you right back. It's embedded in the grooves, in the 0's and 1's, doesn't matter how you listen, your life is changed. You're convinced there's really a farmer's daughter out there.
And you're ready to put on your huarache sandals, grab your board and find where the waves are breaking and smile.
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Saturday 9 March 2019
Friday 8 March 2019
The Pork Chop
The woman next to us was eating one.
My mother never cooked pork. It wasn't a kosher thing, or maybe it was. We weren't kosher. At the time, only the Orthodox were. A lot of the Conservatives were "phony kosher," as in kosher at home, but outside, anything went. Kinda like if you keep your kid from candy and chocolate, they're gonna go to their friend's house and scarf it down while they watch TV incessantly, since you've banned it. The phony kosher people were the first to order lobster. But we did have shellfish in the house, but never pork, maybe my mother's upbringing was shining through.
When it came to meat, which was a staple in the sixties, before everybody went vegetarian, never mind vegan, my father had a butcher. And my dad was proud of the steaks he brought home. That's what they usually were. And he had a fish monger too. And my mother never cooked a steak in a frying pan, which blows my mind since the finest steakhouses prepare them that way. As a matter of fact, my mother didn't even own a cast iron skillet, never mind oiling it. She'd broil meat in the oven. Until...
Summer, or when the sky was clear enough, even if it was January, and my dad would grill the steaks outside on the patio. In the Weber. This was pre-gas. And the thing with the Weber is if you turned the dials, you could save the charcoal briquets, they'd be starved of oxygen and go out, that was a sales pitch!
Shrimp was usually for my parents' parties. And lobster...we ate all the time, it's relatively cheap on the east coast. What you wanted was a stuffed one. Or maybe boiled. Or Thermidor. When you're a kid, you try them all. And I was out one night with Doug's family and I wondered, could I order the lobster? His dad insisted we all get it Fra Diavolo.
But not only did we not eat pork at home, we didn't eat it out either. And we ate out quite a lot. It's only in my later years that I'm into staying home. Nearly every Sunday night. Saturday night, we'd have hot dogs and burgers from the Rocket Drive-In. I remember dropping a burger in the snow. Well, I didn't know I did this, but when it wasn't in the bag, I walked out the front door and I found it, it was still pretty warm, I ate it. Saturday night my parents went out, always. Live in the suburbs and you know everybody, live in the city and everybody's a casual acquaintance, you can be lonely. My parents had a gourmet group, theme parties. Actually, the Tempkins told us they have a gourmet group in Nashville, I'm jealous.
But usually Sunday night, we went for Chinese food. Occasionally to the Pepper Mill, a steakhouse on the Post Road, but usually West Lake, on Main Street in Westport. It was Cantonese.
This was long before Szechwan, now called Sichuan, hit New York. Certainly before Thai. And although people pooh-pooh Cantonese these days, it reminds me of my youth. The wonton soup. Dumplings with meat inside, and a few vegetables and... The reason I loved West Lake was because of the noodles. Fried flat and crispy, we'd load up the soup bowl with them. Oh, to be young and not worried about cholesterol.
And we always got lo mein as one of the main courses, my mother loves it to this day. Everybody in the family got to pick a dish. And I always wanted...
Ribs.
Now you've got to understand, ribs were exotic in Connecticut. You could get them at the Big Top, but other than that... There were no smokers, no pit-tenders, that came much later. The ribs at West Lake were spare ribs, red, which you dipped in duck sauce, which were delectable. I can taste them in my mind right now.
Like I said, my parents had no problem with pork, but that's the only way I ate it, as ribs.
And then came the advertising campaign. THE OTHER WHITE MEAT! And the pictures...the problem with pork is it's too white. As for chicken...
It used to be a staple for me. Even the round patty at Jack in the Box. But ten years ago, when I was diagnosed with CML and I started taking the Gleevec...certain foods didn't sit right, and chicken was one of them. So now, I can't eat most chicken. I mean I never order chicken out, that's the loss of an opportunity, unless it's one of those newfangled spicy joints popping up in L.A. via Memphis and Nashville, but there's that nasty cholesterol factor once again. But they sell this chicken at Gelson's. The breasts are HUGE! It's called "Rosey" and it's fabulous. Yes, I eat breasts. I used to only eat skin. Then I graduated to wings. Now I eat breasts too. But never dark meat. The thought of a thigh grosses me out. Did you read they've got a Brexit problem with chicken? No, that's turkey. Same, but different. Anyway, the Britons like white and the continent likes dark and it works for the poultry growers, but now with Brexit they're gonna be stuck with half the bird.
So now I occasionally eat pork.
Oh, I forgot, I LOVE sausage! Cooked, cold, summer... But some of that stuff in the breakfast buffets in Europe grosses me out. First and foremost, you've got to cook the sausage until it's brown/burnt on the outside. Maybe I like that flavor more than the sausage itself. Maybe it's being a Jew, our parents overcooked everything.
And I experiment with pork.
But I've got to be in the right mood.
I was in the mood for fish. I'd had a late lunch and this was an early dinner. But the fish portions were small and I saw that woman with the pork chop across the way and I decided to jump.
I started with oysters. There's no oyster I won't eat.
The salad was iffy.
And when the pork chop arrived, I wasn't sure I was hungry enough to eat it.
And the dreaded white color when I sliced into it.
But the heavenly first bite, whew! It was like they'd candied the top. The menu said it was pear butter and sage, but I think they ladled on some cherry confection or something, the taste was delectable.
And usually pork chops are big and light in color. You can't stop thinking of the Duroc when you eat it.
But this looked like a T-bone steak. Albeit with a round bone. And every bite got better and better.
It was billed as a "Cap on Sakura Pork Chop," and it's only now that I realize the cap on is the right cut and Sakura is a farm and...
I couldn't stop eating it.
And these mushy root vegetables accompanying it were called sunchokes, and they were a great complement.
And I'm using the knife with the giant blade to cut slices and I'm savoring every bite and it suddenly occurs to me...
THIS IS THE BEST PORK CHOP I'VE EVER HAD!
And then I had to think about it, how many pork chops have I eaten in my life?
Not that many. But I know a good one from a bad one.
And then I started to think, my mother never made pork chops, and then the above memories came flashing back.
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My mother never cooked pork. It wasn't a kosher thing, or maybe it was. We weren't kosher. At the time, only the Orthodox were. A lot of the Conservatives were "phony kosher," as in kosher at home, but outside, anything went. Kinda like if you keep your kid from candy and chocolate, they're gonna go to their friend's house and scarf it down while they watch TV incessantly, since you've banned it. The phony kosher people were the first to order lobster. But we did have shellfish in the house, but never pork, maybe my mother's upbringing was shining through.
When it came to meat, which was a staple in the sixties, before everybody went vegetarian, never mind vegan, my father had a butcher. And my dad was proud of the steaks he brought home. That's what they usually were. And he had a fish monger too. And my mother never cooked a steak in a frying pan, which blows my mind since the finest steakhouses prepare them that way. As a matter of fact, my mother didn't even own a cast iron skillet, never mind oiling it. She'd broil meat in the oven. Until...
Summer, or when the sky was clear enough, even if it was January, and my dad would grill the steaks outside on the patio. In the Weber. This was pre-gas. And the thing with the Weber is if you turned the dials, you could save the charcoal briquets, they'd be starved of oxygen and go out, that was a sales pitch!
Shrimp was usually for my parents' parties. And lobster...we ate all the time, it's relatively cheap on the east coast. What you wanted was a stuffed one. Or maybe boiled. Or Thermidor. When you're a kid, you try them all. And I was out one night with Doug's family and I wondered, could I order the lobster? His dad insisted we all get it Fra Diavolo.
But not only did we not eat pork at home, we didn't eat it out either. And we ate out quite a lot. It's only in my later years that I'm into staying home. Nearly every Sunday night. Saturday night, we'd have hot dogs and burgers from the Rocket Drive-In. I remember dropping a burger in the snow. Well, I didn't know I did this, but when it wasn't in the bag, I walked out the front door and I found it, it was still pretty warm, I ate it. Saturday night my parents went out, always. Live in the suburbs and you know everybody, live in the city and everybody's a casual acquaintance, you can be lonely. My parents had a gourmet group, theme parties. Actually, the Tempkins told us they have a gourmet group in Nashville, I'm jealous.
But usually Sunday night, we went for Chinese food. Occasionally to the Pepper Mill, a steakhouse on the Post Road, but usually West Lake, on Main Street in Westport. It was Cantonese.
This was long before Szechwan, now called Sichuan, hit New York. Certainly before Thai. And although people pooh-pooh Cantonese these days, it reminds me of my youth. The wonton soup. Dumplings with meat inside, and a few vegetables and... The reason I loved West Lake was because of the noodles. Fried flat and crispy, we'd load up the soup bowl with them. Oh, to be young and not worried about cholesterol.
And we always got lo mein as one of the main courses, my mother loves it to this day. Everybody in the family got to pick a dish. And I always wanted...
Ribs.
Now you've got to understand, ribs were exotic in Connecticut. You could get them at the Big Top, but other than that... There were no smokers, no pit-tenders, that came much later. The ribs at West Lake were spare ribs, red, which you dipped in duck sauce, which were delectable. I can taste them in my mind right now.
Like I said, my parents had no problem with pork, but that's the only way I ate it, as ribs.
And then came the advertising campaign. THE OTHER WHITE MEAT! And the pictures...the problem with pork is it's too white. As for chicken...
It used to be a staple for me. Even the round patty at Jack in the Box. But ten years ago, when I was diagnosed with CML and I started taking the Gleevec...certain foods didn't sit right, and chicken was one of them. So now, I can't eat most chicken. I mean I never order chicken out, that's the loss of an opportunity, unless it's one of those newfangled spicy joints popping up in L.A. via Memphis and Nashville, but there's that nasty cholesterol factor once again. But they sell this chicken at Gelson's. The breasts are HUGE! It's called "Rosey" and it's fabulous. Yes, I eat breasts. I used to only eat skin. Then I graduated to wings. Now I eat breasts too. But never dark meat. The thought of a thigh grosses me out. Did you read they've got a Brexit problem with chicken? No, that's turkey. Same, but different. Anyway, the Britons like white and the continent likes dark and it works for the poultry growers, but now with Brexit they're gonna be stuck with half the bird.
So now I occasionally eat pork.
Oh, I forgot, I LOVE sausage! Cooked, cold, summer... But some of that stuff in the breakfast buffets in Europe grosses me out. First and foremost, you've got to cook the sausage until it's brown/burnt on the outside. Maybe I like that flavor more than the sausage itself. Maybe it's being a Jew, our parents overcooked everything.
And I experiment with pork.
But I've got to be in the right mood.
I was in the mood for fish. I'd had a late lunch and this was an early dinner. But the fish portions were small and I saw that woman with the pork chop across the way and I decided to jump.
I started with oysters. There's no oyster I won't eat.
The salad was iffy.
And when the pork chop arrived, I wasn't sure I was hungry enough to eat it.
And the dreaded white color when I sliced into it.
But the heavenly first bite, whew! It was like they'd candied the top. The menu said it was pear butter and sage, but I think they ladled on some cherry confection or something, the taste was delectable.
And usually pork chops are big and light in color. You can't stop thinking of the Duroc when you eat it.
But this looked like a T-bone steak. Albeit with a round bone. And every bite got better and better.
It was billed as a "Cap on Sakura Pork Chop," and it's only now that I realize the cap on is the right cut and Sakura is a farm and...
I couldn't stop eating it.
And these mushy root vegetables accompanying it were called sunchokes, and they were a great complement.
And I'm using the knife with the giant blade to cut slices and I'm savoring every bite and it suddenly occurs to me...
THIS IS THE BEST PORK CHOP I'VE EVER HAD!
And then I had to think about it, how many pork chops have I eaten in my life?
Not that many. But I know a good one from a bad one.
And then I started to think, my mother never made pork chops, and then the above memories came flashing back.
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Thursday 7 March 2019
Hickenlooper
He's following the Jimmy Carter playbook. And Carter may be the best ex-President as opposed to one in office, but one thing's for sure, he won.
We underestimate winning. It's a long road to the top if you wanna rock and roll and AC/DC lit up bars throughout Australia before they shook the world years later. It's what you do in the trenches when few are watching that matters. And then you've got to find a way to win.
Jimmy Carter used the Allman Brothers and the rest of the Capricorn crew.
Never underestimate the power of rock and roll. It brings people together and it spews out bucks, which were used in the seventies to fire campaigns. Not only Jimmy Carter's, but Jerry Brown's too.
And now Hickenlooper has Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats on his side, they played his launch rally in Denver tonight.
Not that you paid attention. The coasts are betting that you're not paying attention. They can't stop making fun of Hickenlooper's name and his lack of recognition. But have you ever heard of Barack Hussein Obama? I mean to make fun of someone because of their name... Hell, I wish Alicia Keys and John Legend went back to their original monikers. If you're not proud of who you are, your message is compromised. You win on identity. You make mistakes, you apologize for them and you carry on. Only losers don't have faults. Winners are flawed, but we get behind them because of their character.
I'm left of left. But this week has me questioning the progressives. If you can't smack down anti-Semitism, the game is rigged. If we all don't begin on the same starting line, we can't win. The holier-than-thou standing up for Ilhan Omar have lost me. Like AOC. And even Bernie. There are some things that can't be said. The fact that Trump has legitimized them is no excuse. This reminds me of the Women's March that was compromised by anti-Semitism. Don't ask me why the blacks hate the Jews, but there's a long history of it.
So we need to come together, we need hope.
Did you ever see the movie "Milk"?
I've never forgotten it. After trouncing his competitor in a debate for state office, Harvey/Sean Penn smugly exits the building to find out his opponent is unfazed. He tells Harvey/Sean Penn that he can't win, because you've got to give the people hope.
One thing's for sure, Trump ain't giving us any.
And I'm not sure the far left of the Democratic Party is either. It's one step forward and one step back.
Now the truth is most of us can get along. We're the same under the skin. Come on, you've hung with the other party's members, and you find out you like the same sports and have similar families.
But for decades the right has been the party of division. Running on fear, creating tropes so you'll vote for them, and avoid the bogeyman.
That's right, the Republicans define the debate, with their code words. "Government schools." The "Democrat" party. It's a secret society built on hatred that wants to keep anybody not like them out.
MSNBC is as biased as Fox.
But it's not.
Every media outlet other than Fox leans left. How do they know this? Fox and Trump keep telling them, they're certainly not reading or watching the opposition.
So that's how we get to today.
John Hickenlooper is running on hope. As he said in tonight's speech, he's not about YOU'RE FIRED, but YOU'RE HIRED! He personally has created jobs, after losing his initial career and starting over.
And if you talk to the far left he's specious because of fracking and marijuana and...
There you go again, the Democrats are infighting, there's a purity test as the right laughs. The right is laughing about Ilhan Omar. You mean you can't even condemn anti-Semitism?
And nobody with a dollar likes Elizabeth Warren.
And Kamala Harris has little actual governing on her resume.
Cory Booker peaked years ago.
And now Bloomberg has punted.
And Sherrod Brown.
Which only leaves Biden in the middle.
Who are these fanatical Biden supporters? They never showed up when he ran for President previously and notoriously put his foot in his mouth. And between his hair plugs and fake smile he's hard to take.
So, Hickenlooper has a chance.
Bernie has traction, he plowed this road, he demonstrated the falsity in Hillary's anointment.
But first and foremost you must win.
And maybe a centrist can.
No one ever agrees with every position of a candidate. Just as long as you're not offended by it. I'm not gonna vote for a Republican because they're pro-Israel, but I might not vote for a Democrat who is not. Look through history, the Jews have always been the enemy, cast out, killed, but suddenly every other minority supersedes them? They march in Charlottesville and their enemy is the Jews...is that what is holding these people back?
You know, the rich Jews with their big noses and their long sideburns.
Who are cheap, who'll bargain you down. Who run the media and entertainment businesses.
You may believe all that, many people who've never met a Jew do.
But Hickenlooper is not Jewish, he's just got a funny name.
And he's running on optimism and hope, which we desperately need these days. Sure, you've got to call out bad actors, but what's your plan thereafter?
Beto has no history.
Hickenlooper ran not only a major city, but a major state.
It's a long race. The front runners often fail, can you say Ed Muskie and Jeb Bush?
And never underestimate the power of entertainers to grease the skids. The right decries it, because they don't have anybody who'll perform for them.
It's time for the left to rally around a candidate who can win.
And I don't care who it is, as long as they succeed.
But right now we're on a road to Trump's re-election, because the Democrats can't get their house in order.
Hickenlooper is taking the right steps.
Boring is good in politics. The edgier you get the more you alienate people.
This election is all about the ten to twenty percent in the middle, the undecided. Who's gonna motivate them?
Think about it.
"John Hickenlooper, in first major speech of presidential run, calls for era of American optimism": https://dpo.st/2Tkelf8
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We underestimate winning. It's a long road to the top if you wanna rock and roll and AC/DC lit up bars throughout Australia before they shook the world years later. It's what you do in the trenches when few are watching that matters. And then you've got to find a way to win.
Jimmy Carter used the Allman Brothers and the rest of the Capricorn crew.
Never underestimate the power of rock and roll. It brings people together and it spews out bucks, which were used in the seventies to fire campaigns. Not only Jimmy Carter's, but Jerry Brown's too.
And now Hickenlooper has Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats on his side, they played his launch rally in Denver tonight.
Not that you paid attention. The coasts are betting that you're not paying attention. They can't stop making fun of Hickenlooper's name and his lack of recognition. But have you ever heard of Barack Hussein Obama? I mean to make fun of someone because of their name... Hell, I wish Alicia Keys and John Legend went back to their original monikers. If you're not proud of who you are, your message is compromised. You win on identity. You make mistakes, you apologize for them and you carry on. Only losers don't have faults. Winners are flawed, but we get behind them because of their character.
I'm left of left. But this week has me questioning the progressives. If you can't smack down anti-Semitism, the game is rigged. If we all don't begin on the same starting line, we can't win. The holier-than-thou standing up for Ilhan Omar have lost me. Like AOC. And even Bernie. There are some things that can't be said. The fact that Trump has legitimized them is no excuse. This reminds me of the Women's March that was compromised by anti-Semitism. Don't ask me why the blacks hate the Jews, but there's a long history of it.
So we need to come together, we need hope.
Did you ever see the movie "Milk"?
I've never forgotten it. After trouncing his competitor in a debate for state office, Harvey/Sean Penn smugly exits the building to find out his opponent is unfazed. He tells Harvey/Sean Penn that he can't win, because you've got to give the people hope.
One thing's for sure, Trump ain't giving us any.
And I'm not sure the far left of the Democratic Party is either. It's one step forward and one step back.
Now the truth is most of us can get along. We're the same under the skin. Come on, you've hung with the other party's members, and you find out you like the same sports and have similar families.
But for decades the right has been the party of division. Running on fear, creating tropes so you'll vote for them, and avoid the bogeyman.
That's right, the Republicans define the debate, with their code words. "Government schools." The "Democrat" party. It's a secret society built on hatred that wants to keep anybody not like them out.
MSNBC is as biased as Fox.
But it's not.
Every media outlet other than Fox leans left. How do they know this? Fox and Trump keep telling them, they're certainly not reading or watching the opposition.
So that's how we get to today.
John Hickenlooper is running on hope. As he said in tonight's speech, he's not about YOU'RE FIRED, but YOU'RE HIRED! He personally has created jobs, after losing his initial career and starting over.
And if you talk to the far left he's specious because of fracking and marijuana and...
There you go again, the Democrats are infighting, there's a purity test as the right laughs. The right is laughing about Ilhan Omar. You mean you can't even condemn anti-Semitism?
And nobody with a dollar likes Elizabeth Warren.
And Kamala Harris has little actual governing on her resume.
Cory Booker peaked years ago.
And now Bloomberg has punted.
And Sherrod Brown.
Which only leaves Biden in the middle.
Who are these fanatical Biden supporters? They never showed up when he ran for President previously and notoriously put his foot in his mouth. And between his hair plugs and fake smile he's hard to take.
So, Hickenlooper has a chance.
Bernie has traction, he plowed this road, he demonstrated the falsity in Hillary's anointment.
But first and foremost you must win.
And maybe a centrist can.
No one ever agrees with every position of a candidate. Just as long as you're not offended by it. I'm not gonna vote for a Republican because they're pro-Israel, but I might not vote for a Democrat who is not. Look through history, the Jews have always been the enemy, cast out, killed, but suddenly every other minority supersedes them? They march in Charlottesville and their enemy is the Jews...is that what is holding these people back?
You know, the rich Jews with their big noses and their long sideburns.
Who are cheap, who'll bargain you down. Who run the media and entertainment businesses.
You may believe all that, many people who've never met a Jew do.
But Hickenlooper is not Jewish, he's just got a funny name.
And he's running on optimism and hope, which we desperately need these days. Sure, you've got to call out bad actors, but what's your plan thereafter?
Beto has no history.
Hickenlooper ran not only a major city, but a major state.
It's a long race. The front runners often fail, can you say Ed Muskie and Jeb Bush?
And never underestimate the power of entertainers to grease the skids. The right decries it, because they don't have anybody who'll perform for them.
It's time for the left to rally around a candidate who can win.
And I don't care who it is, as long as they succeed.
But right now we're on a road to Trump's re-election, because the Democrats can't get their house in order.
Hickenlooper is taking the right steps.
Boring is good in politics. The edgier you get the more you alienate people.
This election is all about the ten to twenty percent in the middle, the undecided. Who's gonna motivate them?
Think about it.
"John Hickenlooper, in first major speech of presidential run, calls for era of American optimism": https://dpo.st/2Tkelf8
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It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
https://spoti.fi/2tWr8W9
I was not a Bob Dylan fan.
Of course we sang "Blowin' In The Wind" at summer camp, but this was long before the rock press, and I hadn't even reached puberty, I thought it was a Peter, Paul & Mary song.
Same deal with "The Times They Are a-Changin'." When we sang this, I thought it was an old folk song, it had so much wisdom, distilled into that one line, the song's title. This was the folk music era, we were singing songs both old and new, everybody had a nylon-stringed guitar and then...
The Beatles hit.
Overnight, music went from background to foreground. Music spearheaded change. We were addicted to our transistor radios. We suddenly went from listening to the baseball game to the Top Forty countdown. The WABC party on Saturday night. We were too young to go out, we'd stay at home and play our 45s and listen to the radio.
And we switched from acoustics to electrics. Everybody was forming a band, singing the songs of the British Invasion. And then came "Like A Rolling Stone."
We hated it. Dylan had a nasal voice unlike the Beatles. The track was endless, when it came on the radio we switched the station. But through overplay, we got used to it, but I never loved it. I still don't think it's the best Dylan song, never mind the best single of all time, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Now "Like A Rolling Stone" came on Dylan's sixth LP, "Highway 61 Revisited." Talk about artist development! Columbia stuck with him and Dylan got better and broke through. I'm not sure this can happen today. Either you can be an overnight hip-hop sensation or you can labor forever and maybe make it to the middle, able to tour theatres with little cultural impact.
But with the breakthrough of "Like A Rolling Stone," suddenly Dylan was all over the airwaves, even if it was not with his own records. The Turtles broke through with their cover of "It Ain't Me Babe" and the Byrds brought us folk rock with "Mr. Tambourine Man," which you might not have been able to understand but was exquisitely ear-pleasing, unlike most of Dylan's originals.
Dylan became a legend. The Beatles referenced him. And then he released the double album "Blonde On Blonde" with "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," with its indelible refrain, EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED!
We couldn't believe this was on the radio. And we still weren't sure about drugs. PBS had documentaries on heroin addiction, marijuana was for the lost. Were the Beatles really on drugs? And suddenly, the concept of getting stoned was everywhere on the airwaves, but was he talking about dope, no one really knew!
Then came the motorcycle accident, the comeback of "John Wesley Harding" and then the commercial breakthrough of "Nashville Skyline," with "Lay Lady Lay," as played on hit radio as much as anything else that summer of '69. And we saw Dylan sing "Girl From The North Country" with Johnny Cash on TV.
But then, the following year, Dylan threw it all away with "Self Portrait."
The Beatles never had a stiff. But the famously reclusive and supposedly distanced Dylan came back in a matter of months with "New Morning," hailed as a return to form.
This is where I came in.
I still love "New Morning." From its opening notes of "If Not For You" to the title track to my favorite, "Sign On The Window."
So when I saw a student advertising used albums for sale I went to his dorm room and purchased a scarred version of "John Wesley Harding," that was essentially unplayable, I think he ironed his skis on it or something. And I was done with Dylan until...
The end of '73, when he said he was coming back on tour.
I sent away mail order, registered mail, and I got tickets, very good ones, in the loge at Madison Square Garden. And I'll never forget that moment in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" when Dylan uttered/sang...BUT EVEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SOMETIMES MUST HAVE TO STAND NAKED!
The audience roared. They were listening, they were paying attention, they knew the lyrics.
This was during Watergate, but before Nixon's resignation later that summer. The seeds of discontent were growing. The younger generation had the President on the run. We were gonna get 'em, we were gonna get our revenge.
But this was before they impeached Clinton over a blow job.
This was before politics became so tribal.
We'd been licking our wounds, but the downfall of Nixon inspired us, made us believe...
We could win in the end.
That America was truly the land of justice for all.
Now in preparation for the concert, I ordered every Dylan album, even a replacement copy of "John Wesley Harding" save the reviled "Self Portrait," from King Karol in New York. And with so much music to listen to, it was difficult to get too deep into any of them. But "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" stuck in my head, I knew the Byrds' cover from "Easy Rider," and when the CD revolution arrived...
I bought "Bringing It All Back Home."
Note, this is the album before "Highway 61 Revisited." People still think "Highway 61" and "Blonde On Blonde" are the best, but I beg to differ, for me it's "Bringing It All Back Home."
Now the funny thing is at this late date, "Bringing It All Back Home" gets more attention, even if it's subtle. Over time the documentary "Don't Look Back" has become a cultural institution, with impact far in excess of that it had upon initial release. As a result, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is quoted constantly in the culture. Yes, Johnny's in the basement, and the vandals took the handles and you can make a video throwing away lyric cards...
But "Bringing It All Back Home" also includes the legendary "Maggie's Farm." Boy wasn't Dylan prescient, seemingly all of us are working on Maggie's farm these days.
And it's "Bringing It All Back Home" that contains the aforementioned "Mr. Tambourine Man." And "Gates of Eden" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."
But tucked in deep on the second side, never released as a single, is my favorite Dylan track ever, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
It's seven minutes and twenty nine seconds long. And it reveals itself over time, with repeated listening, you keep on gaining new insights. But still, some of the statements are obvious, like...
"Money doesn't talk, it swears."
Ray Davies and the Kinks would do a riff on this topic in 1974, with "Money Talks," from "Preservation Act 2":
"Money can't breathe and money can't see
But when I pull out a fiver people listen to me"
But Dylan was ten years ahead. An artist speaking truth. About the power of mazuma.
And yes, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" contains that overused phrase in the wake of Dylan singing it..."he not busy being born is busy dying." I'm not sure the younger generation even knows where this phrase comes from, but there it is, in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
And I'm lying on my living room floor, listening to "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" over and over again in the wake of my ex leaving, and this is the stanza that stood out:
"While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole that he's in"
This has stood by me for decades. I've taken the path less traveled, I've gone against conventional wisdom, and people don't like it. They e-mail me every damn day to tell me I'm wrong and I'm an imbecile. And I look them up online and they're not world-beaters, but retail clerks, wannabe musicians with day jobs. I'd never respond to an online newsletter, but these people...they have to drag me down into the unhappy hole they're in, I can't be immune.
And my second favorite stanza...
"Advertising signs that 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"
BINGO! That's America, that's why the young rule, they haven't discovered it's all a big joke, so they're willing to spend money and time trying to get somewhere they can't. They believe in the myth. That they too can win, if they just believe... Hell, look at the self-help book industry. Read me and your life will work! But that never happens. Like the Landmark Forum and the rest of those quick fixes. You spend your money, get your high and then you're left out on the street broke and busted.
"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"
This was before the Jesus freaks, before artists kept thanking God for their victories. And still, religion is supposed to be a showstopper, you can't question it, while these same people kill and maim in the name of "God." I'm willing to give up my religion if you'll give up yours. We know it's all phony, it's just a construct we hold on to to give our lives meaning, to make us believe we'll live forever, but now science proves so much is untrue or impossible, yet people still cling to "God."
"An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge"
They're playing them 24/7, but if you remove yourself you're often alone, that's the conundrum of society.
And another stanza with so much wisdom you can't believe Dylan actually wrote it, you can only marvel:
"For them that obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be nothing more than something they invest in"
Yup, you're your job. Everybody must overwork. You can't love what you do. It's a grind. You're a cog in the wheel paying fealty to your boss. That's America to a "T." And when anybody questions it, those invested in the game cry foul. Think about this, go your own way. But at your peril. Don't complain when you can't pay your bills as an artist. No one ever said it was easy.
"Propaganda, all is phony"
We're inundated with propaganda. That's Fox News. Look underneath, check the facts and you'll oftentimes find...it's just blowhards, there's nothing underneath the supposed doctrines and statements.
"For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely"
The rich, they think they're never gonna die, that they're gonna rule forever. Sumner Redstone believed that, but lived long enough to have his personal life dragged through the media to his detriment. We're all the same, we're all human, even though you'd like to believe otherwise. In other words, we're all gonna die, your time is gonna come.
"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"
Yup, you only get one go-round, don't regret it, keep your eyes open, go your own way.
And don't be a conformist. The gang mentality...artists were never part of this, they were singular thinkers. Sure, they liked cash, but message was so much more important.
People telling you how to live, who to be, if they opened my brain...
Hell, I open it here often enough to experience the blowback. CDs must be saved, Spotify is the devil...and then, in time, change arrives. It's the dreamers, the thinkers, those questioning authority who are the leaders in the end.
Like Bob Dylan
P.S. I'm including two versions of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the Spotify playlist above. The first is the classic version from "Bringing It All Back Home." This is just one man and his guitar, not fixed in the mix, it's immediate, it's alive, like there's a guy speaking directly to you whether you're listening through a hundred thousand dollar stereo or earbuds. The other is the nearly nine and a half minute take from "The Bootleg Volume 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 - Concert At Philharmonic Hall." This is the bootleg album you want, not the "Royal Albert Hall" from 1966. In this early concert, it's fans only, Dylan is not yet embittered from the blowback and the hatred. He's a man at the peak of his powers thrilled to get his message across, the power will infect you...and when he forgets the lyrics in the middle, you'll laugh with him, because humanity shines, something we've lost in this age of digitization.
--
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--
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I was not a Bob Dylan fan.
Of course we sang "Blowin' In The Wind" at summer camp, but this was long before the rock press, and I hadn't even reached puberty, I thought it was a Peter, Paul & Mary song.
Same deal with "The Times They Are a-Changin'." When we sang this, I thought it was an old folk song, it had so much wisdom, distilled into that one line, the song's title. This was the folk music era, we were singing songs both old and new, everybody had a nylon-stringed guitar and then...
The Beatles hit.
Overnight, music went from background to foreground. Music spearheaded change. We were addicted to our transistor radios. We suddenly went from listening to the baseball game to the Top Forty countdown. The WABC party on Saturday night. We were too young to go out, we'd stay at home and play our 45s and listen to the radio.
And we switched from acoustics to electrics. Everybody was forming a band, singing the songs of the British Invasion. And then came "Like A Rolling Stone."
We hated it. Dylan had a nasal voice unlike the Beatles. The track was endless, when it came on the radio we switched the station. But through overplay, we got used to it, but I never loved it. I still don't think it's the best Dylan song, never mind the best single of all time, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Now "Like A Rolling Stone" came on Dylan's sixth LP, "Highway 61 Revisited." Talk about artist development! Columbia stuck with him and Dylan got better and broke through. I'm not sure this can happen today. Either you can be an overnight hip-hop sensation or you can labor forever and maybe make it to the middle, able to tour theatres with little cultural impact.
But with the breakthrough of "Like A Rolling Stone," suddenly Dylan was all over the airwaves, even if it was not with his own records. The Turtles broke through with their cover of "It Ain't Me Babe" and the Byrds brought us folk rock with "Mr. Tambourine Man," which you might not have been able to understand but was exquisitely ear-pleasing, unlike most of Dylan's originals.
Dylan became a legend. The Beatles referenced him. And then he released the double album "Blonde On Blonde" with "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," with its indelible refrain, EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED!
We couldn't believe this was on the radio. And we still weren't sure about drugs. PBS had documentaries on heroin addiction, marijuana was for the lost. Were the Beatles really on drugs? And suddenly, the concept of getting stoned was everywhere on the airwaves, but was he talking about dope, no one really knew!
Then came the motorcycle accident, the comeback of "John Wesley Harding" and then the commercial breakthrough of "Nashville Skyline," with "Lay Lady Lay," as played on hit radio as much as anything else that summer of '69. And we saw Dylan sing "Girl From The North Country" with Johnny Cash on TV.
But then, the following year, Dylan threw it all away with "Self Portrait."
The Beatles never had a stiff. But the famously reclusive and supposedly distanced Dylan came back in a matter of months with "New Morning," hailed as a return to form.
This is where I came in.
I still love "New Morning." From its opening notes of "If Not For You" to the title track to my favorite, "Sign On The Window."
So when I saw a student advertising used albums for sale I went to his dorm room and purchased a scarred version of "John Wesley Harding," that was essentially unplayable, I think he ironed his skis on it or something. And I was done with Dylan until...
The end of '73, when he said he was coming back on tour.
I sent away mail order, registered mail, and I got tickets, very good ones, in the loge at Madison Square Garden. And I'll never forget that moment in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" when Dylan uttered/sang...BUT EVEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SOMETIMES MUST HAVE TO STAND NAKED!
The audience roared. They were listening, they were paying attention, they knew the lyrics.
This was during Watergate, but before Nixon's resignation later that summer. The seeds of discontent were growing. The younger generation had the President on the run. We were gonna get 'em, we were gonna get our revenge.
But this was before they impeached Clinton over a blow job.
This was before politics became so tribal.
We'd been licking our wounds, but the downfall of Nixon inspired us, made us believe...
We could win in the end.
That America was truly the land of justice for all.
Now in preparation for the concert, I ordered every Dylan album, even a replacement copy of "John Wesley Harding" save the reviled "Self Portrait," from King Karol in New York. And with so much music to listen to, it was difficult to get too deep into any of them. But "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" stuck in my head, I knew the Byrds' cover from "Easy Rider," and when the CD revolution arrived...
I bought "Bringing It All Back Home."
Note, this is the album before "Highway 61 Revisited." People still think "Highway 61" and "Blonde On Blonde" are the best, but I beg to differ, for me it's "Bringing It All Back Home."
Now the funny thing is at this late date, "Bringing It All Back Home" gets more attention, even if it's subtle. Over time the documentary "Don't Look Back" has become a cultural institution, with impact far in excess of that it had upon initial release. As a result, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is quoted constantly in the culture. Yes, Johnny's in the basement, and the vandals took the handles and you can make a video throwing away lyric cards...
But "Bringing It All Back Home" also includes the legendary "Maggie's Farm." Boy wasn't Dylan prescient, seemingly all of us are working on Maggie's farm these days.
And it's "Bringing It All Back Home" that contains the aforementioned "Mr. Tambourine Man." And "Gates of Eden" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."
But tucked in deep on the second side, never released as a single, is my favorite Dylan track ever, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
It's seven minutes and twenty nine seconds long. And it reveals itself over time, with repeated listening, you keep on gaining new insights. But still, some of the statements are obvious, like...
"Money doesn't talk, it swears."
Ray Davies and the Kinks would do a riff on this topic in 1974, with "Money Talks," from "Preservation Act 2":
"Money can't breathe and money can't see
But when I pull out a fiver people listen to me"
But Dylan was ten years ahead. An artist speaking truth. About the power of mazuma.
And yes, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" contains that overused phrase in the wake of Dylan singing it..."he not busy being born is busy dying." I'm not sure the younger generation even knows where this phrase comes from, but there it is, in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
And I'm lying on my living room floor, listening to "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" over and over again in the wake of my ex leaving, and this is the stanza that stood out:
"While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole that he's in"
This has stood by me for decades. I've taken the path less traveled, I've gone against conventional wisdom, and people don't like it. They e-mail me every damn day to tell me I'm wrong and I'm an imbecile. And I look them up online and they're not world-beaters, but retail clerks, wannabe musicians with day jobs. I'd never respond to an online newsletter, but these people...they have to drag me down into the unhappy hole they're in, I can't be immune.
And my second favorite stanza...
"Advertising signs that 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"
BINGO! That's America, that's why the young rule, they haven't discovered it's all a big joke, so they're willing to spend money and time trying to get somewhere they can't. They believe in the myth. That they too can win, if they just believe... Hell, look at the self-help book industry. Read me and your life will work! But that never happens. Like the Landmark Forum and the rest of those quick fixes. You spend your money, get your high and then you're left out on the street broke and busted.
"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"
This was before the Jesus freaks, before artists kept thanking God for their victories. And still, religion is supposed to be a showstopper, you can't question it, while these same people kill and maim in the name of "God." I'm willing to give up my religion if you'll give up yours. We know it's all phony, it's just a construct we hold on to to give our lives meaning, to make us believe we'll live forever, but now science proves so much is untrue or impossible, yet people still cling to "God."
"An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge"
They're playing them 24/7, but if you remove yourself you're often alone, that's the conundrum of society.
And another stanza with so much wisdom you can't believe Dylan actually wrote it, you can only marvel:
"For them that obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be nothing more than something they invest in"
Yup, you're your job. Everybody must overwork. You can't love what you do. It's a grind. You're a cog in the wheel paying fealty to your boss. That's America to a "T." And when anybody questions it, those invested in the game cry foul. Think about this, go your own way. But at your peril. Don't complain when you can't pay your bills as an artist. No one ever said it was easy.
"Propaganda, all is phony"
We're inundated with propaganda. That's Fox News. Look underneath, check the facts and you'll oftentimes find...it's just blowhards, there's nothing underneath the supposed doctrines and statements.
"For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely"
The rich, they think they're never gonna die, that they're gonna rule forever. Sumner Redstone believed that, but lived long enough to have his personal life dragged through the media to his detriment. We're all the same, we're all human, even though you'd like to believe otherwise. In other words, we're all gonna die, your time is gonna come.
"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"
Yup, you only get one go-round, don't regret it, keep your eyes open, go your own way.
And don't be a conformist. The gang mentality...artists were never part of this, they were singular thinkers. Sure, they liked cash, but message was so much more important.
People telling you how to live, who to be, if they opened my brain...
Hell, I open it here often enough to experience the blowback. CDs must be saved, Spotify is the devil...and then, in time, change arrives. It's the dreamers, the thinkers, those questioning authority who are the leaders in the end.
Like Bob Dylan
P.S. I'm including two versions of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the Spotify playlist above. The first is the classic version from "Bringing It All Back Home." This is just one man and his guitar, not fixed in the mix, it's immediate, it's alive, like there's a guy speaking directly to you whether you're listening through a hundred thousand dollar stereo or earbuds. The other is the nearly nine and a half minute take from "The Bootleg Volume 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 - Concert At Philharmonic Hall." This is the bootleg album you want, not the "Royal Albert Hall" from 1966. In this early concert, it's fans only, Dylan is not yet embittered from the blowback and the hatred. He's a man at the peak of his powers thrilled to get his message across, the power will infect you...and when he forgets the lyrics in the middle, you'll laugh with him, because humanity shines, something we've lost in this age of digitization.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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The New Yorker Story
"The Making Of The Fox News White House-Fox News has always been partisan. But has it become propaganda?": https://bit.ly/2CcP78b
Is changing the perception of Fox News.
There's a divide in this country, and I wouldn't put us past a civil war if Trump gets trounced in the next election. Bill Maher's been saying that the Donald won't leave office, Michael Cohen said the same thing. You see over years the Republicans have undermined the sanctity of elections. Whether it be with Bush v. Gore twenty years ago or the endless rants about election fraud when the biggest case just happened on their side.
So, if Trump loses, do you think his base will believe it?
I doubt it. Democrats roll over and go home, just like they're doing with Ilhan Omar right now. Read Bret Stephens in today's "New York Times": "Ilhan Omar Knows Exactly What She Is Doing-The Minnesota Democrat is bringing Corbynism to the Democratic Party": https://nyti.ms/2H6voe3 That's what's so depressing, everything we thought was solved is not. Anti-semitism... Everybody still hates the Jews, covering it in anti-Israel rhetoric. But the truth is the Arabs don't want a two state solution, they want Israel gone all together. But the anti-Israel lobby can't stop talking about the problems of the Palestinians. I'm a Jew. I can criticize Israel all day long. The settlements, what's up with that? I'm loyal to the United States first and foremost. And I can understand the powerless spewing ignorant hatred, but a member of Congress? And AOC defending her? God, you'd think minorities would hang together, but they're busy infighting, which is why Republicans get elected.
The Republicans are organized. Read the "New Yorker" piece and you'll realize Trump gets his information not from the government so much as Fox News. And that Fox News has gone even further to the right since the death of Roger Ailes and the expulsion of Bill O'Reilly, but that's not the perception of its viewers, whose angst and hatred of immigrants is stoked by the channel.
We've known Fox News has been biased for decades. But now, since the "New Yorker" story, the intelligentsia are having a new look, saying that they won't give Murdoch's outlet the pass they used to, that it should be ostracized and called out for what it is.
All this focus on fake news online. I can't help it if people are dummies. They're not taught civics in school, they're infatuated with conspiracy theories perpetrated by Fox and other outlets to keep them uninformed so they won't wake up and ask what is going on and how come they've been left out.
Our society is being ripped apart at the seams.
And the most powerful entity is the media.
That's right, one story in the "New Yorker" changed the debate.
And one four hour documentary changed the perception of Michael Jackson, damaging his estate irreparably.
We've been taught that all the action takes place in backwaters online. But the truth is the educated and intelligent, the established players, rule.
And the public doesn't like this. Which is why it adheres to Fox News. Someone must be at fault for their failures, let's blame it on the darkies and the Jews, because if we find out we ourselves are at fault, we're screwed.
Sure, Facebook is off the rails. But our President is off the rails, with a member of the Fox team on his communications staff.
It's enough to make you tune out, but there's too much at stake. It's hard to march forward believing it's business as usual, when it's not.
I know intelligent people who don't believe in climate change. Because that's not what the "Wall Street Journal" says, and that's the only thing they read!
In other words, the big entities are pointing their fingers at the little people. It's you and your groups on Facebook. You're the problem. It's an incredible fake-out.
But when the timing is right and truth is spoken, it gets traction.
The Michael Jackson documentary wouldn't have had traction if it weren't for the #MeToo movement.
And the "New Yorker" Fox News story wouldn't have played if Trump's activities were not the focus of today's Congress.
Sure, outsiders can tip the table. But they're always from the same club.
Music used to be an insider, a valuable media outlet. But now everybody says it should stay in its lane as mindless entertainment. Everybody's afraid of alienating their base, but there's no progress unless you take a risk. Am I supposed to heed the e-mail that tells me to stick to music? WHAT IS THE STORY THERE? That Lady Gaga got a new tattoo? That there's a new festival? That streaming services are increasing in subscribership? There's no content. But there are reams of poorly-written words that say nothing. "Billboard" trying to appeal to the public and trades that won't say anything negative if they're being paid.
First they come for the Jews.
And eventually they come for you.
At what point would you risk your life for your country?
I thought those days were far behind us. I don't want my ass shot off.
But now I get it, the wars of the past. People can't get over past injuries. Everybody wants a piece of the pie.
Meanwhile, the poor are hooked on opioids and the rich are working in finance or tech and those stuck in the middle are strugging to make ends meet while they bump asses to mindless music and watch superhero movies. They're looking for an escape, but there is none, that's the story of today. You're in play, everybody's in play. And if you want to make a difference, make a statement.
Jane Mayer has more power than the corporate titans.
One record can change the world.
Never forget that.
--
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--
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Is changing the perception of Fox News.
There's a divide in this country, and I wouldn't put us past a civil war if Trump gets trounced in the next election. Bill Maher's been saying that the Donald won't leave office, Michael Cohen said the same thing. You see over years the Republicans have undermined the sanctity of elections. Whether it be with Bush v. Gore twenty years ago or the endless rants about election fraud when the biggest case just happened on their side.
So, if Trump loses, do you think his base will believe it?
I doubt it. Democrats roll over and go home, just like they're doing with Ilhan Omar right now. Read Bret Stephens in today's "New York Times": "Ilhan Omar Knows Exactly What She Is Doing-The Minnesota Democrat is bringing Corbynism to the Democratic Party": https://nyti.ms/2H6voe3 That's what's so depressing, everything we thought was solved is not. Anti-semitism... Everybody still hates the Jews, covering it in anti-Israel rhetoric. But the truth is the Arabs don't want a two state solution, they want Israel gone all together. But the anti-Israel lobby can't stop talking about the problems of the Palestinians. I'm a Jew. I can criticize Israel all day long. The settlements, what's up with that? I'm loyal to the United States first and foremost. And I can understand the powerless spewing ignorant hatred, but a member of Congress? And AOC defending her? God, you'd think minorities would hang together, but they're busy infighting, which is why Republicans get elected.
The Republicans are organized. Read the "New Yorker" piece and you'll realize Trump gets his information not from the government so much as Fox News. And that Fox News has gone even further to the right since the death of Roger Ailes and the expulsion of Bill O'Reilly, but that's not the perception of its viewers, whose angst and hatred of immigrants is stoked by the channel.
We've known Fox News has been biased for decades. But now, since the "New Yorker" story, the intelligentsia are having a new look, saying that they won't give Murdoch's outlet the pass they used to, that it should be ostracized and called out for what it is.
All this focus on fake news online. I can't help it if people are dummies. They're not taught civics in school, they're infatuated with conspiracy theories perpetrated by Fox and other outlets to keep them uninformed so they won't wake up and ask what is going on and how come they've been left out.
Our society is being ripped apart at the seams.
And the most powerful entity is the media.
That's right, one story in the "New Yorker" changed the debate.
And one four hour documentary changed the perception of Michael Jackson, damaging his estate irreparably.
We've been taught that all the action takes place in backwaters online. But the truth is the educated and intelligent, the established players, rule.
And the public doesn't like this. Which is why it adheres to Fox News. Someone must be at fault for their failures, let's blame it on the darkies and the Jews, because if we find out we ourselves are at fault, we're screwed.
Sure, Facebook is off the rails. But our President is off the rails, with a member of the Fox team on his communications staff.
It's enough to make you tune out, but there's too much at stake. It's hard to march forward believing it's business as usual, when it's not.
I know intelligent people who don't believe in climate change. Because that's not what the "Wall Street Journal" says, and that's the only thing they read!
In other words, the big entities are pointing their fingers at the little people. It's you and your groups on Facebook. You're the problem. It's an incredible fake-out.
But when the timing is right and truth is spoken, it gets traction.
The Michael Jackson documentary wouldn't have had traction if it weren't for the #MeToo movement.
And the "New Yorker" Fox News story wouldn't have played if Trump's activities were not the focus of today's Congress.
Sure, outsiders can tip the table. But they're always from the same club.
Music used to be an insider, a valuable media outlet. But now everybody says it should stay in its lane as mindless entertainment. Everybody's afraid of alienating their base, but there's no progress unless you take a risk. Am I supposed to heed the e-mail that tells me to stick to music? WHAT IS THE STORY THERE? That Lady Gaga got a new tattoo? That there's a new festival? That streaming services are increasing in subscribership? There's no content. But there are reams of poorly-written words that say nothing. "Billboard" trying to appeal to the public and trades that won't say anything negative if they're being paid.
First they come for the Jews.
And eventually they come for you.
At what point would you risk your life for your country?
I thought those days were far behind us. I don't want my ass shot off.
But now I get it, the wars of the past. People can't get over past injuries. Everybody wants a piece of the pie.
Meanwhile, the poor are hooked on opioids and the rich are working in finance or tech and those stuck in the middle are strugging to make ends meet while they bump asses to mindless music and watch superhero movies. They're looking for an escape, but there is none, that's the story of today. You're in play, everybody's in play. And if you want to make a difference, make a statement.
Jane Mayer has more power than the corporate titans.
One record can change the world.
Never forget that.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Wednesday 6 March 2019
Zuckerberg's Blog Post
https://bit.ly/2TmiQWv
This isn't about privacy, this is about MONOPOLY!
Yes, we have a problem with fake news, did you read the story about the kid testifying against his mom, who didn't want him to be vaccinated? She gets all her information via Facebook.
There's nothing in Zuck's post to address this.
Meanwhile, the cognoscenti keep deriding the social network for its propagation of fake news. It's a problem, that's true. But it's the nature of the internet, it's decentralized. But everybody complaining wants to jet back to the past, with three nightly news shows and a paper of record in every burg. But that ain't happening, news on TV is entertainment, and every hamlet cannot support a full-service newspaper. So what we've seen in news is concentration, and the dirty little secret is you've got to pay for it. That's right, we heard for twenty years how everything on the internet was gonna be free, and eviscerate economics. But that's untrue. The "Wall Street Journal" was never free, and now most major news outlets, like the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," have soft paywalls. And these news-gathering operations deliver the facts, but they let the internet, the mob, set the agenda.
So we've got a two-tiered society. One that pays for information and one that does not. So you've got the informed and the uninformed. But it's worse, with the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, everybody can spew their falsehoods with seeming impunity. They get rid of Bill O'Reilly and we get Tucker Carlson. As the Who would say, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Although with something to prove Carlson is never soft. He may not be abusing women, but he's even more strident than O'Reilly. So you whack one mole and you get another.
And for a long time we paid fealty to fairness. Wasn't that Fox's slogan, "Fair and Balanced"? But the "New Yorker" did a piece blasting through that haze and now the Democrats are refusing to let the right wing outlet host a debate. Give the Dems credit, they finally found their balls, even though the Republicans are crying foul.
But that's politics. When you dig deeper, when the usual suspects are not involved you get...
Endless biases. And falsehoods. And to eliminate these would require us to get rid of all the sub-groups about all subjects. That's right, the imbeciles in D.C. want to break the internet, but there's no way they can do that. They can only SUPERSEDE what already exists.
The right doesn't trust facts. Rather than blast them for it, create a site that's facts only. Like Snopes, but the right no longer believes that site. Finally, the NYT and WaPo are getting rid of false equivalencies, printing lists of falsehoods. How about a site containing only that? Wikipedia is further down this road than the usual suspects, who are busy selling cruises and wines and live appearances, not questioning their core businesses.
So don't expect Facebook to get rid of falsehoods. And even if they did, they'd resurface somewhere else. The barrier to entry is incredibly low online. As for the anti-vaxxers, they're not interested in science, that's not the point. This is how they feel POWERFUL in a society where they're just a number and have no impact, even though it's the more wealthy who refuse to inoculate their kids. You see the similarity between left and right? The left thinks it's always right, but it's not. Everybody feels powerless, everybody wants to upset the apple cart.
And Zuckerberg's screed does not eliminate mass groups, it just gives you the option of privacy.
Oh, come on, people gave up their privacy long ago. They don't want to adjust their settings, they can't understand how to, and furthermore Facebook keeps changing the rules because...
It's a business, and the dirty little secret is it's built on data. YOURS!
Nowhere in this post does Zuckerberg say he's going to stop collecting your info, he just says he's gonna keep bad actors from getting it. How insane is that! He collects data, shares it with corporations and feeds you ads. Oh, you can personalize the ads you get, but they're still collecting the data. Zuckerberg's head is so up his ass he cannot see sunshine, never mind truth.
But it's worse. Zuck wants to tie Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp together under the aegis of privacy. No, this is the biggest stealth business move in the history of man. Zuckerberg wants to control ALL communication! WhatsApp rules outside of the United States. It makes iMessage look like a gnat on the ass of an elephant. We keep hearing about how Apple is gonna triumph via services, but tell me how that works when Zuckerberg ends up with all the users? Zuckerberg wants to build WeChat in plain sight. That's why American companies are burdened in China, everything goes through, is built on top of, WeChat, so an individual vertical can't win. This is why Apple is screwed in China, not only are its devices too high-priced, all you need is WeChat, all the rest of the features of the phone are nearly irrelevant.
You tie Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp together and you control the majority of communication. This is like the old "Twilight Zone" episode, "To Serve Man." You think you're getting a bonus, when the truth is you'll be eaten alive. Yup, Zuck just wants you in his ecosystem.
He buys the non-profitable WhatsApp for nearly $16 billion and Apple isn't even smart enough to purchase Netflix. Apple keeps believing it must be invented here while its competitors run circles around it. Apple is playing for some of the marbles, Facebook is playing for THEM ALL!
But legislators are too stupid to know what's going on, the techies run circles around them. And the public is addicted to Facebook's services. With the carrot of "privacy," Zuckerberg is appeasing D.C. and getting away with owning the infrastructure of connection.
Meanwhile, the old and educated keep on telling us to put our phones down, isn't that like telling your teen of yore not to take the car? Furthermore, kids today don't even get driver's licenses. Uber has superseded car ownership.
But you get big swinging dick oldsters and uninformed entertainers purchasing instantly depreciating iron to illustrate they've made it, when the truth is they're demonstrating their ignorance.
We'll never get Facebook to deliver the truth. That's gonna be a third party startup. Facebook only believes in its own truth, leave out the human element and just make money. If it can't be digitized, they're not interested. But that's not how ideas and the dissemination thereof work.
Meanwhile, they charge more for ads that reach fewer people.
What Facebook has established is people want to connect. And they bought the future with WhatsApp and Instagram. And if you don't want to play by the company's rules, you're out, like the people who started WhatsApp and Instagram. It's out of control, Facebook is a runaway company.
But those who could change it don't understand it.
And those addicted are lemmings who can't let go.
And when they wake up, Facebook will fake us out, just like Purdue Pharma, they'll go bankrupt as to be judgment proof. Corporations are people? My ass.
--
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--
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-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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This isn't about privacy, this is about MONOPOLY!
Yes, we have a problem with fake news, did you read the story about the kid testifying against his mom, who didn't want him to be vaccinated? She gets all her information via Facebook.
There's nothing in Zuck's post to address this.
Meanwhile, the cognoscenti keep deriding the social network for its propagation of fake news. It's a problem, that's true. But it's the nature of the internet, it's decentralized. But everybody complaining wants to jet back to the past, with three nightly news shows and a paper of record in every burg. But that ain't happening, news on TV is entertainment, and every hamlet cannot support a full-service newspaper. So what we've seen in news is concentration, and the dirty little secret is you've got to pay for it. That's right, we heard for twenty years how everything on the internet was gonna be free, and eviscerate economics. But that's untrue. The "Wall Street Journal" was never free, and now most major news outlets, like the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," have soft paywalls. And these news-gathering operations deliver the facts, but they let the internet, the mob, set the agenda.
So we've got a two-tiered society. One that pays for information and one that does not. So you've got the informed and the uninformed. But it's worse, with the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, everybody can spew their falsehoods with seeming impunity. They get rid of Bill O'Reilly and we get Tucker Carlson. As the Who would say, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Although with something to prove Carlson is never soft. He may not be abusing women, but he's even more strident than O'Reilly. So you whack one mole and you get another.
And for a long time we paid fealty to fairness. Wasn't that Fox's slogan, "Fair and Balanced"? But the "New Yorker" did a piece blasting through that haze and now the Democrats are refusing to let the right wing outlet host a debate. Give the Dems credit, they finally found their balls, even though the Republicans are crying foul.
But that's politics. When you dig deeper, when the usual suspects are not involved you get...
Endless biases. And falsehoods. And to eliminate these would require us to get rid of all the sub-groups about all subjects. That's right, the imbeciles in D.C. want to break the internet, but there's no way they can do that. They can only SUPERSEDE what already exists.
The right doesn't trust facts. Rather than blast them for it, create a site that's facts only. Like Snopes, but the right no longer believes that site. Finally, the NYT and WaPo are getting rid of false equivalencies, printing lists of falsehoods. How about a site containing only that? Wikipedia is further down this road than the usual suspects, who are busy selling cruises and wines and live appearances, not questioning their core businesses.
So don't expect Facebook to get rid of falsehoods. And even if they did, they'd resurface somewhere else. The barrier to entry is incredibly low online. As for the anti-vaxxers, they're not interested in science, that's not the point. This is how they feel POWERFUL in a society where they're just a number and have no impact, even though it's the more wealthy who refuse to inoculate their kids. You see the similarity between left and right? The left thinks it's always right, but it's not. Everybody feels powerless, everybody wants to upset the apple cart.
And Zuckerberg's screed does not eliminate mass groups, it just gives you the option of privacy.
Oh, come on, people gave up their privacy long ago. They don't want to adjust their settings, they can't understand how to, and furthermore Facebook keeps changing the rules because...
It's a business, and the dirty little secret is it's built on data. YOURS!
Nowhere in this post does Zuckerberg say he's going to stop collecting your info, he just says he's gonna keep bad actors from getting it. How insane is that! He collects data, shares it with corporations and feeds you ads. Oh, you can personalize the ads you get, but they're still collecting the data. Zuckerberg's head is so up his ass he cannot see sunshine, never mind truth.
But it's worse. Zuck wants to tie Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp together under the aegis of privacy. No, this is the biggest stealth business move in the history of man. Zuckerberg wants to control ALL communication! WhatsApp rules outside of the United States. It makes iMessage look like a gnat on the ass of an elephant. We keep hearing about how Apple is gonna triumph via services, but tell me how that works when Zuckerberg ends up with all the users? Zuckerberg wants to build WeChat in plain sight. That's why American companies are burdened in China, everything goes through, is built on top of, WeChat, so an individual vertical can't win. This is why Apple is screwed in China, not only are its devices too high-priced, all you need is WeChat, all the rest of the features of the phone are nearly irrelevant.
You tie Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp together and you control the majority of communication. This is like the old "Twilight Zone" episode, "To Serve Man." You think you're getting a bonus, when the truth is you'll be eaten alive. Yup, Zuck just wants you in his ecosystem.
He buys the non-profitable WhatsApp for nearly $16 billion and Apple isn't even smart enough to purchase Netflix. Apple keeps believing it must be invented here while its competitors run circles around it. Apple is playing for some of the marbles, Facebook is playing for THEM ALL!
But legislators are too stupid to know what's going on, the techies run circles around them. And the public is addicted to Facebook's services. With the carrot of "privacy," Zuckerberg is appeasing D.C. and getting away with owning the infrastructure of connection.
Meanwhile, the old and educated keep on telling us to put our phones down, isn't that like telling your teen of yore not to take the car? Furthermore, kids today don't even get driver's licenses. Uber has superseded car ownership.
But you get big swinging dick oldsters and uninformed entertainers purchasing instantly depreciating iron to illustrate they've made it, when the truth is they're demonstrating their ignorance.
We'll never get Facebook to deliver the truth. That's gonna be a third party startup. Facebook only believes in its own truth, leave out the human element and just make money. If it can't be digitized, they're not interested. But that's not how ideas and the dissemination thereof work.
Meanwhile, they charge more for ads that reach fewer people.
What Facebook has established is people want to connect. And they bought the future with WhatsApp and Instagram. And if you don't want to play by the company's rules, you're out, like the people who started WhatsApp and Instagram. It's out of control, Facebook is a runaway company.
But those who could change it don't understand it.
And those addicted are lemmings who can't let go.
And when they wake up, Facebook will fake us out, just like Purdue Pharma, they'll go bankrupt as to be judgment proof. Corporations are people? My ass.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Tuesday 5 March 2019
The Coarsening Of America
Today you go to college to get a job.
In case this isn't your beat, Hampshire College is on the verge of collapse. An outgrowth of the sixties, Hampshire was about creating your own major and exploring. The results include Ken Burns, an alumnus who has gone on to create series about baseball, jazz, the Civil War and more.
But today's parents just want their kids to get a gig. That's the job of college, but it shouldn't be. Didn't Steve Jobs testify as to the power of the liberal arts? He learned calligraphy at Reed, even if he did drop out, supposedly because he didn't want to spend his parents' money. But now the price of higher education has outstripped inflation and you can't get a job at all without a degree and parents want value for their dollars and is that what education should be all about?
No.
Somewhere along the line, the country took a wrong turn. I can say when, but half the country will flip out. That's right, Ronald Reagan legitimized greed and sowed the seeds of income inequality. That's what the pursuit of "freedom" will get you. Then again, it's hard to learn the truth when states rewrite history. America is no longer in pursuit of the truth, but bias. Everybody's working the refs, everybody's got an agenda, and the end result is few know what is going on, including the media. The media is a business oftentimes run by those holier-than-thou. Let me get this straight, AOC got elected and then suddenly the whole country, or at least the Democratic Party, skewed left? As for the right, they don't realize we already live under socialism. Now this same media is saying the country is moving to the center and if you listen you know...they've got no contact with the people making the decisions. I know, because my inbox is gonna explode as a result of this paragraph, unless you're on the front lines you're clueless, but no one wants to reside there, because the blowback is horrifying. Used to be you were rich and famous and insulated, but that no longer applies, especially in the land of entertainment, the haven of nincompoops, especially in music, because...
Everybody with a brain is out.
Now I'll admit, when I went to school parents wanted their kids to be doctors and lawyers. But those professions pay a pittance compared to the banks and tech, and the truth is boomer doctors are giving up practice and I know more non-practicing attorneys than those writing contracts and going to court. You see these people woke up, just like the scions of today's parents will...is this what I really want to do, do I want to waste my life in pursuit of cash?
But we hear that Kylie Jenner is a billionaire. Is that the goal, to get plastic surgery and sell vanities? Try having a conversation with one of these Kardashians...I've seen them on TV, they'd benefit from going to college, although I must admit Kourtney did, and when she opens your mouth you can tell.
College, that's where you learn to be an adult, away from mommy and daddy. But now you're on the cell with them all day long and then you move back in and no one grows up, everybody's got a safety net, except those who don't. And those left behind...are addicted to opiates and voting for Trump because they want someone to pay attention to them when no one does!
And music is pop, whether it be hip-hop or Ariana Grande. We laud these know-nothings because they're popular, as if they were Tolstoys. But the truth is you can learn more from someone working at the 7-11, at least they're in touch with reality, whereas everybody else is selling you something. Meanwhile, those selling are oftentimes scammers, did you read about that radio host promoting a Ponzi scheme?
But that's modern America.
But if you study the liberal arts, you learn how to parse the truth. Life isn't about ones and zeros and objective tests. Life is all about essays. Bezos requires a six page summary, meanwhile, all those business class wankers are lamenting writing. If you can't convey your ideas, good luck!
And our nation deplores those majoring in art or theatre or dance, thinking the joke is on them. Well, it might be if they're looking for a well-paying gig, but chances are these students are better rounded with more insight than the frat rat raping you after studying sports business, or whatever it takes to get a degree.
And, once again, the blame lies with the wealthy and educated, they're the worst perpetrators. They're over-involved with their kids' lives and don't want them to go off course. Want them to be world-beaters. How about being a good person who can understand what you read and spread the word of truth?
But then we've got Fox News not even printing the same headlines as the rest of the media, never mind giving the news a different spin.
No one knows what's going on anymore. Oh, they'll tell you they do, but they don't. It's all about intimidation, trying to angst you up against your interests. And the best defense against this is a liberal arts education. Because you've got to divine your own damn truth. You've got to learn to go your own way. The crowd is oftentimes wrong. All the great writers of yore, isn't it funny that they were singular, not members of the group, meanwhile today herd mentality rules. Cohen doing what Trump said so he could get rich.
Of course you need money, but how much?
And the truth is there's no entry to life for those left behind. They just fall further and further behind. And of course corporations pay no taxes and the Koch Brothers lobby for disintegration, but there are big issues at hand here, and we refuse to address them anymore. JFK implored us to go to the moon. Now the government is the enemy that must be defunded so the rich can get away with their crimes. That's right, Trump didn't pay his fair share and he got to be President!
He constantly paid fealty to the uneducated, his base.
But the educated are punting. They're self-centered. It's all about getting your own piece of the rock, screw everybody else, don't even let the poor know about their options.
Most people should not go to college.
Then again, there are not enough jobs for thinking people. A degree allows you to be a receptionist. And you owe your life to the bank for the privilege.
Used to be artists spoke truth to power, when they were products of the middle class. But that group has been eviscerated, now we've just got the haves and the have-nots. And the haves want nothing to do with music because there's just not enough money in it. That's for the rubes, the underclass, just like reality TV, where you parade for a minute before you fall behind. Want to know what's going on in this country...listen to a record? Give me a break!
But whenever I write this I hear from the wannabes saying they've got the next hit, when the truth is in the pre-internet era they wouldn't have been able to record, never mind distribute.
That's right we keep giving the clueless false hope, while the privileged run the game.
The Youngbloods sang that we should get together and love one another. Boy how times have changed. But the boomers thought they'd find their way. That becoming fully-realized was more important than garnering cash.
Our entire nation is about jumping mindlessly through hoops to get somewhere you ultimately don't want to be.
And those left out are scrounging for a living, looking for a way for momentary fame. They hear about influencers, Spotify playlists, when the privileged hear about Goldman Sachs.
And the media tells us Kamala Harris will be President and Bernie Sanders shouldn't run. Meanwhile, no one in California, where Harris held office, is excited about her and Sanders immediately raises $10 million in small donations when he announces.
Which is why you should question everything you read and hear.
But do you have the education to do this?
In high school they're teaching to the test and in college they're teaching you how to be a cog in the wheel.
Maybe you should read a book and go to the museum to experience the wisdom of the ages. And armed with this knowledge maybe you can make a difference.
But you just want to make money.
In case this isn't your beat, Hampshire College is on the verge of collapse. An outgrowth of the sixties, Hampshire was about creating your own major and exploring. The results include Ken Burns, an alumnus who has gone on to create series about baseball, jazz, the Civil War and more.
But today's parents just want their kids to get a gig. That's the job of college, but it shouldn't be. Didn't Steve Jobs testify as to the power of the liberal arts? He learned calligraphy at Reed, even if he did drop out, supposedly because he didn't want to spend his parents' money. But now the price of higher education has outstripped inflation and you can't get a job at all without a degree and parents want value for their dollars and is that what education should be all about?
No.
Somewhere along the line, the country took a wrong turn. I can say when, but half the country will flip out. That's right, Ronald Reagan legitimized greed and sowed the seeds of income inequality. That's what the pursuit of "freedom" will get you. Then again, it's hard to learn the truth when states rewrite history. America is no longer in pursuit of the truth, but bias. Everybody's working the refs, everybody's got an agenda, and the end result is few know what is going on, including the media. The media is a business oftentimes run by those holier-than-thou. Let me get this straight, AOC got elected and then suddenly the whole country, or at least the Democratic Party, skewed left? As for the right, they don't realize we already live under socialism. Now this same media is saying the country is moving to the center and if you listen you know...they've got no contact with the people making the decisions. I know, because my inbox is gonna explode as a result of this paragraph, unless you're on the front lines you're clueless, but no one wants to reside there, because the blowback is horrifying. Used to be you were rich and famous and insulated, but that no longer applies, especially in the land of entertainment, the haven of nincompoops, especially in music, because...
Everybody with a brain is out.
Now I'll admit, when I went to school parents wanted their kids to be doctors and lawyers. But those professions pay a pittance compared to the banks and tech, and the truth is boomer doctors are giving up practice and I know more non-practicing attorneys than those writing contracts and going to court. You see these people woke up, just like the scions of today's parents will...is this what I really want to do, do I want to waste my life in pursuit of cash?
But we hear that Kylie Jenner is a billionaire. Is that the goal, to get plastic surgery and sell vanities? Try having a conversation with one of these Kardashians...I've seen them on TV, they'd benefit from going to college, although I must admit Kourtney did, and when she opens your mouth you can tell.
College, that's where you learn to be an adult, away from mommy and daddy. But now you're on the cell with them all day long and then you move back in and no one grows up, everybody's got a safety net, except those who don't. And those left behind...are addicted to opiates and voting for Trump because they want someone to pay attention to them when no one does!
And music is pop, whether it be hip-hop or Ariana Grande. We laud these know-nothings because they're popular, as if they were Tolstoys. But the truth is you can learn more from someone working at the 7-11, at least they're in touch with reality, whereas everybody else is selling you something. Meanwhile, those selling are oftentimes scammers, did you read about that radio host promoting a Ponzi scheme?
But that's modern America.
But if you study the liberal arts, you learn how to parse the truth. Life isn't about ones and zeros and objective tests. Life is all about essays. Bezos requires a six page summary, meanwhile, all those business class wankers are lamenting writing. If you can't convey your ideas, good luck!
And our nation deplores those majoring in art or theatre or dance, thinking the joke is on them. Well, it might be if they're looking for a well-paying gig, but chances are these students are better rounded with more insight than the frat rat raping you after studying sports business, or whatever it takes to get a degree.
And, once again, the blame lies with the wealthy and educated, they're the worst perpetrators. They're over-involved with their kids' lives and don't want them to go off course. Want them to be world-beaters. How about being a good person who can understand what you read and spread the word of truth?
But then we've got Fox News not even printing the same headlines as the rest of the media, never mind giving the news a different spin.
No one knows what's going on anymore. Oh, they'll tell you they do, but they don't. It's all about intimidation, trying to angst you up against your interests. And the best defense against this is a liberal arts education. Because you've got to divine your own damn truth. You've got to learn to go your own way. The crowd is oftentimes wrong. All the great writers of yore, isn't it funny that they were singular, not members of the group, meanwhile today herd mentality rules. Cohen doing what Trump said so he could get rich.
Of course you need money, but how much?
And the truth is there's no entry to life for those left behind. They just fall further and further behind. And of course corporations pay no taxes and the Koch Brothers lobby for disintegration, but there are big issues at hand here, and we refuse to address them anymore. JFK implored us to go to the moon. Now the government is the enemy that must be defunded so the rich can get away with their crimes. That's right, Trump didn't pay his fair share and he got to be President!
He constantly paid fealty to the uneducated, his base.
But the educated are punting. They're self-centered. It's all about getting your own piece of the rock, screw everybody else, don't even let the poor know about their options.
Most people should not go to college.
Then again, there are not enough jobs for thinking people. A degree allows you to be a receptionist. And you owe your life to the bank for the privilege.
Used to be artists spoke truth to power, when they were products of the middle class. But that group has been eviscerated, now we've just got the haves and the have-nots. And the haves want nothing to do with music because there's just not enough money in it. That's for the rubes, the underclass, just like reality TV, where you parade for a minute before you fall behind. Want to know what's going on in this country...listen to a record? Give me a break!
But whenever I write this I hear from the wannabes saying they've got the next hit, when the truth is in the pre-internet era they wouldn't have been able to record, never mind distribute.
That's right we keep giving the clueless false hope, while the privileged run the game.
The Youngbloods sang that we should get together and love one another. Boy how times have changed. But the boomers thought they'd find their way. That becoming fully-realized was more important than garnering cash.
Our entire nation is about jumping mindlessly through hoops to get somewhere you ultimately don't want to be.
And those left out are scrounging for a living, looking for a way for momentary fame. They hear about influencers, Spotify playlists, when the privileged hear about Goldman Sachs.
And the media tells us Kamala Harris will be President and Bernie Sanders shouldn't run. Meanwhile, no one in California, where Harris held office, is excited about her and Sanders immediately raises $10 million in small donations when he announces.
Which is why you should question everything you read and hear.
But do you have the education to do this?
In high school they're teaching to the test and in college they're teaching you how to be a cog in the wheel.
Maybe you should read a book and go to the museum to experience the wisdom of the ages. And armed with this knowledge maybe you can make a difference.
But you just want to make money.
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Monday 4 March 2019
History Of The Beach Boys Part One-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday March 5th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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