https://bit.ly/3tIGpqU
1
It's inspirational.
And it's now on Hulu.
Zappa was someone you discovered along the way, and then you went back and purchased all the albums that came before and the ones that came thereafter until...you grew up and went separate ways.
I'm not saying I stopped buying Zappa's records, I'm not saying I wasn't paying attention to Frank, what I'm saying is Zappa was a jumping off point, and once you were trained enough, he expected you to spread your wings and fly, and definitely not where he'd already been.
Most people did not, fly that is.
But some of us did.
You had to grow up in the sixties. I was doing an interview with Joel Selvin about his new book "Hollywood Eden" and I asked him why everybody at University High wanted to make a record. Joel said that's where the action was. And sure, Capitol was in L.A. but the rest of the labels were on the east coast and on the west coast it was a fledgling business, run by independents, akin to the computer revolution back in the nineties. Sure, the computer revolution started in the seventies, the first time I ever saw someone using an Apple II was in the office of Frank's manager, but in the nineties and early two thousands...tech innovation was rampant. In retrospect, it was a very brief time, before the money and consolidation came along to quash independent dreams. Compete with Amazon and Facebook at your peril. They'll just imitate you and put you out of business, or make you sell to them.
But it wasn't always this way.
Back in the sixties no one expected to be rich and famous. That was for somebody else, people who broke the rules. You see prior to the mid-sixties, the life of baby boomers was all about conforming, jumping through hoops. Now some turned on, tuned in and dropped out, but most didn't have the chutzpah, and when Reagan came along in the eighties to legitimize greed they got right on board, and rode the rails through the Clinton presidency and now believed they were different from everybody else, and entitled. They were self-satisfied.
But Frank Zappa would say the joke was on them.
The greats don't conform. Which is why you can't learn to be a rock star in school. You were either born with it or you weren't. And if you weren't, you'll never make it, the road is too hard, and to truly make your mark you must be inspired. And if you are and you make it to the top expect to be denigrated, because others were unwilling to put in the hard work and are jealous of your success. Like Glenn Frey and the Eagles. Glenn had knocked around, Geffen wasn't interested in his work with J.D. Souther, and then he had an idea for a band, he kept Don Henley up all night telling him who and what the Eagles would be the night before their first gig with Linda Ronstadt in D.C. And then Glenn proceeded to execute. And sure, the Eagles made lots of money, Zappa had no problem with that, as long as you didn't sell out to make your money.
So the sixties were very short, the Mothers of Invention recorded for a very brief window, from '65 to '69, but in that short span of time they changed the landscape, and the people who listened to them.
Irreverence, questioning authority, speaking truth to power. None of those are elements of today's hit music. But these were the mantras of Frank Zappa. He didn't beat you over the head with them, he just lived his life by them and you were influenced by that.
Influence... Who are you influenced by?
I'm not sure who people are truly influenced by today. I hope it's not politicians, none of them are true believers like Frank. But in the sixties, our influences were those who were pushing the envelope, testing limits, and word would spread and...
That's how you'd discover Frank Zappa and so much more.
So what was it like in the sixties?
Well, unless you lived then, you'll never really know. As for the aphorism that if you remember the sixties you weren't there, that's completely wrong. Then again, everybody was too busy living their life to chronicle it, you didn't want to sit back, you wanted to participate. It was about self-realization. And that's a hard viewpoint to shake. I never have.
Yes, I'm a sixties casualty.
I've got this beach metaphor, hang in there with me. In the fifties there were beatniks, everybody was hip and cool, and then the wave went back to sea and the only one left on shore was Maynard G. Krebs. Same deal in the sixties, everybody was a hippie, growing their hair long, loving one another, and then the wave went out and I was left standing alone, on the beach, and when I express my viewpoints people laugh at me.
But at least I have viewpoints, I don't take the temperature, take a poll of the audience before I act. And neither did Steve Jobs and neither did Frank Zappa. They acted on their own innate tuning fork. As for Mr. Jobs...he was influenced and inspired by the Beatles and Bob Dylan, and if Steve were still alive today he'd place them on the totem pole above himself, you see art may last, technology is always superseded.
There's so much that's skipped over in this movie, like how did Frank learn to read and write music. But that's what's great about it, it's not comprehensive, it does its best to create a mood, a feeling, and you certainly get it. And Frank was not lovable and when the movie is over you don't love him either, you respect him, you're wowed by him, you're inspired by him, and that will hit you right between the eyes whether you like Zappa's music or not.
Not that there's endless music in this film, that's not what it's about. It's the story of Frank. Well, part of the story. There could be three or four more documentaries and they'd be almost totally new, Frank created that much, he did that much.
But what if you grow up nowhere as an outcast, how does that affect you?
And if you're looking to do something, are you trying to get a grant, from a foundation or the government? Zappa didn't play that game, he paid, he didn't want anybody telling him what to do, he wanted control. And the truth is all true artists are control freaks, because they have a vision, and they know unless it's portrayed accurately, it won't resonate, it'll miss.
2
"Hey punk where you goin' with that flower in your hand
Well I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band
Hey punk where you goin' with that button on your shirt
I'm goin' to the love-in to sit and play my bongos in the dirt"
"Flower Punk" was the song that made me a Frank Zappa fan. It was only 1968, but the Mothers were making fun of the hippies, all the non-thinking followers. Today nobody thinks for themselves, you join your tribe and never question it, it's a nation of followers. But back in the sixties, more important than your bank account was your ability to think.
"I'm losing status at the high school
I used to think that it was my school"
High school is all about popularity, fitting in. But what if you weren't, popular that is, what if you didn't fit in?
"The other night we painted posters
We played some records by the Coasters
Wah wah wah wah
A bunch of pom-pom girls
Looked down their nose at me
They had painted tons of posters I had painted three
I hear the secret whispers everywhere I go
My school spirit is at an all time low"
"Status Back Baby" is on the second side of "Absolutely Free," released in 1967, before "We're Only in It for the Money," which contains "Flower Punk." I had to buy the album after I purchased "We're Only in It for the Money" and that's when I discovered the track. And most people didn't know it, but if you did, you were a member of a secret club, you were aligned with Frank Zappa, you could not only see, but knew, the system was a joke.
It's all there with Zappa. He was always true to himself. He never wavered. He never sold out. He risked, he evolved, but he never strived for a hit, and as a result everybody knew who he was, and those truly in the know looked up to him. Today they only look up to you if you make money, if you're rich, and if you're rich your work cannot be challenged.
Alex Winter, aka Bill in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" has not made the typical rock doc. You know, hagiography, jumping through the hoops, he or she did this or that, got their head screwed on straight and now they're on a victory lap, don't you love them? "Zappa" is almost an impressionistic view of Zappa and his career. You jump from bite to bite, Frank's history and ethos come into view, but not everything is crammed in, just enough for you to get the sense, the feel for who he is.
And the truth is the film got excellent reviews, but nobody was gonna pay to see it on VOD during Covid, when it was released last fall. This is a film for a streaming service. This is a time bomb, something that will sit in the library, waiting to be discovered by generations hence. Every artist, everybody who thinks they want to be an artist, needs to see this film, it's the gut check of all gut checks. You see Frank's choices, would you make them?
In other words, Frank Zappa and this film might be what W.C. Fields was to us in the sixties. Gone for decades, we were fanatics for him, went to see his pictures, like "The Bank Dick" and "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break." It was W.C.'s sensibility, he was irascible, he didn't have time for children and fools, he was himself all the time, meaning you could be an irreverent curmudgeon too, you didn't have to act nice like everybody told you to, worrying about making the right impression.
W.C. Fields has yet to come back again, he may never do so, but Frank Zappa... The younger generations aren't aware of Frank and his work, or think he's all about "Valley Girl" if he's about anything. But at some point, could be tomorrow, could be ten years from now, they'll see this documentary and be inspired, need to go down the rabbit hole, listen to the music and become aware of all the possibilities.
Yes, that's what art is about, possibilities, in your expression. Going where you want to, not worrying if anybody else wants to come along. It's a hard road and you may never be recognized. But watching this movie you've got to ask yourself, do you deserve to be recognized?
You cannot watch this flick without being moved, no way.
And you cannot turn it off.
The first half could be the best rock documentary ever made. The second half is more conventional, which is not a criticism so much as I'm saying the first half is godhead.
You need to see it.
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Thursday 22 April 2021
Steve Cropper-This Week's Podcast
Steve Cropper is literally a living legend. Guitar player, producer, writer...Cropper has had a hand in some of the most iconic tracks of all time, from "Green Onions" to "In the Midnight Hour" to "Knock on Wood" to "Dock of the Bay" to... We chart Steve's history from Missouri to Memphis, from the Mar-Keys to Booker T and the MGs, from Jim Stewart to Tom Dowd to John Lennon and the Blues Brothers and so much more. We discuss the creative process, the equipment, the characters...we go deep, and you don't want to miss this!
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2g21bBRNom7lVurhXxwWFj?si=g6WfXAkRSM2ThHmLebAO5g
Apple Podcasts app
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2g21bBRNom7lVurhXxwWFj?si=g6WfXAkRSM2ThHmLebAO5g
Apple Podcasts app
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Wednesday 21 April 2021
Don "Big Daddy" Garlits
1
Subject: "Big Daddy" Don Garlits Did Not
... appreciate my enlightening share, evidently.
DWjr
__________
Take me off your fucking list! I don't need to hear your liberal shit! Your type is what has happened to our great Nation! Go kiss the idiot Biden's ass, I don't care. He didn't get the most votes, it was a totally illegal election!! I know that for a fact!
Don Garlits
__________
In the 1960s there were two things every young boy paid attention to, baseball and ABC's "Wide World of Sports."
It wasn't until the late sixties that football superseded baseball as America's Pastime. Football moved faster in a world that was moving faster. The two leagues merged. There was the Super Bowl and then Joe Namath's called victory, baseball was never the same. But before that...scratch a baby boomer and they'll complain their parents threw out their baseball cards, they'd be worth so much if they still had them! We didn't save them in pristine condition in a vault as an investment, rather we put them all in a plastic bag and went to friends' houses and at first traded, and then flipped. Yes, you flipped for cards, today that would be called a sport.
As for Saturday afternoon... At five o'clock you watched "Wide World of Sports." This was before networks put a bug in the corner to remind you what channel you were watching. Most burgs only had three networks, and every kid could tell the difference, they knew the late night schedule by heart.
So, "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat." Boomers still employ that phrase today, usually ironically, but they know it better than religious treatises. And they also know the ski jumper who fell in the intro, everyone always wondered what happened to him, there was no internet, certainly no Wikipedia, unanswered questions were the rule of the day.
One can actually argue that ski jumping and bobsledding were bigger in the sixties, because they were constantly featured on "Wide World of Sports." And this was before the fitness boom, these were just regular people competing, you didn't have ringers from other sports, amazing physical specimens to add push and weight to your bobsled...this was a winter job, nearly a lark, and we watched...did you see when that four man sled went over the side and people died? It's embedded in my brain, I can see it right now, albeit in black and white.
Some sports have died along the way. Like barrel jumping. That was always from Grossinger's, in the Catskills. I remember when the record was just over ten, I believe it was twelve or so. Ultimately it went up to fourteen, fifteen, sixteen or... And if you crashed... The barrels were made out of cardboard, so the pain was lessened, but you still crashed on ice.
Another sport featured on "Wide World of Sports" was drag racing. Always from Southern California. California was exotic back then, no one saw a need to put it down, and being three hours behind the time, many people in business did not even think of it. But if you were a youngster, you had the Beach Boys, and the beach, and the girls on it, and drag racing...it was where you wanted to go and many did, for the freedom it promised, before freedom had different connotations and we started to argue over it. And one of the drag racing stars was Don "Big Daddy" Garlits. I never forgot him, who could forget that name, in an era where nicknames were prominent, like "Moose" Skowron, never mind Rattfink.
Who were these guys who built their own cars with the goal just to go fast for a quarter mile? You'd watch the different categories, gain knowledge that no one has today, in an era of specialization. This is stuff we were exposed to at a young age, Top Fuel, Funny Cars...not that I could ever figure out which one was faster, after all you got limited exposure, only on Saturday afternoons.
And the host was one Jim McKay. It took a decade for us to find out his real last name was "McManus," how would we know? But McKay ran herd over the entire enterprise, he was our trusted authority.
Of course as time went by more people became aware of McKay, he hosted the Olympics, but the Olympics back then had a fraction of the mindshare they do today, the winter games only lasted a week, and no one got rich, not even the networks, exploitation really began in the seventies, when ballparks lost their original monikers and players started to do huge endorsement deals.
In other words, back in the sixties, in the days of "Wide World of Sports," you can argue that life was quaint, one thing you can say for sure, we were always on the same page.
You cannot say that today.
2
What changed? Well, definitely there was the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, but in truth there was an explosion of options, first pay cable with HBO and then further premium channels as well as basic cable outlets and to think that Bruce Springsteen complained that there were only fifty seven channels and nothing on, talk about a dated view, today there are hundreds of channels, never mind streaming outlets, and people have so much to watch that many are cutting the cord, they can live quite easily without those hundreds of cable channels, they've got enough options.
Let's see what else changed.
Well, instead of love your brother it became about getting rich. Taxes dropped, income inequality soared, and in the nineties it looked like everybody was winning until...
The century turned. That's when things got bad.
It started with 9/11. It happened on American soil, the generation alive and aware back then is still not over it. And then the war. And then the 2008 crash.
Suddenly people realized there were winners and losers, and if you were a loser, it had to be somebody else's fault. And now there were numerous outlets to reinforce that notion. That someone stole your job, the immigrants... And foreign nations were ripe for abuse too. They took the jobs. Meanwhile, Americans would switch loyalties for one dollar. Look at airline tickets. To the point where you can buy a no-frills ticket, you can't even bring carry-on luggage, and people who buy these tickets always complain when they're confronted with the rules, how were they supposed to know, it's unfair! And one can criticize them for their ignorance, but the truth is we're constantly confronted with boilerplate and no one can be an expert on everything, and no one can sacrifice, make that the 28th Amendment. No one can lose their job, no technology can cause them to go out of business, no one can make less money as the future marches on. Of course this is untrue, but people believe this, especially those in power.
So let's say you had a job working with your hands. Most of those were shipped overseas, you can only get a service gig, retraining was a joke, and you made much less and your lifestyle took a nosedive. But as for personal impact by outside forces...it wasn't like an immigrant was taking your job, but immigrants did have jobs, even illegal immigrants, so therefore it must be affecting your job, because of the trickle down effect, just like with taxes.
Now the truth is a lot of the jobs immigrants do citizens do not want to. Like picking grapes, it's back-breaking work. But you read about those foreigners getting jobs in Silicon Valley, high-salaried ones, and you must be paying the price for that, you have to be. Furthermore, those who were supporting this way of life became the enemy, they weren't Americans, there became this myth about "real Americans," who worked hard, never got divorced, went to church, didn't do drugs and...few of these people exist, on either end of the political spectrum.
So what we ended up with was a divide.
3
I'd like to see Big Daddy's proof that Trump won. This is like that "Catfish" show on MTV. Let me see, a movie star is interested in dating me, even though I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Some things just make you laugh on the surface. But in a world where everybody should get paid as an artist and a reality TV star becomes president, everyone believes they know everything and are entitled to an opinion. As for others' contrasting opinions, they're inherently wrong. This is America's new sport, the divide between the believers, the political parties, not football, although they learned the game from football, it's dirty and violent and people cheat but it's all about winning.
Yesterday, Black people and liberals were thrilled that Chauvin was convicted. However, if you dialed in Fox, just the opposite happened. The debate was framed as pro or con police. There's not a single American who believes there should be no police, but somehow nearly half the country believes people are saying this. It's become an issue of semantics, catchphrases, Frank Luntz realized it was all in how you labeled it, "Death Taxes" bad, "Estate Taxes" not so much, so let's change the term and the perception.
If you go to Fox News on your phone right now, you'll find the Chauvin trial takes a back seat to stories about liberal media, and AOC and Hollywood and... As for Chauvin, all the stories are not about the conviction, but the penumbra, that the left just isn't satisfied.
There are some Chauvin headlines on the sides of the page if you're using your desktop browser, but if you're on your phone the only relevant story is about how Pelosi handled Maxine Waters's "revolting" remarks.
In other words, the Chauvin trial is already in the rearview mirror in the Fox News bubble. It's back to belittling the left ad infinitum.
Note, the right is playing this game quite well, but it doesn't have its own agenda, other than a return to the past. And while we're at it, why don't we get rid of music streaming, electric automobiles, smartphones... You can't go back, it's impossible. As for manufacturing in America... Are you willing to pay two grand for a basic flat screen? Five grand for a laptop?
4
Tucker Carlson has gotten a beating in the press. But the press is now wrong unless you agree with it, the right has eliminated the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," they're biased and must be ignored. Carlson employs the replacement theory, an anti-Semitic trope, and when criticized for it, by the Anti-Defamation League and more, he doubles down.
But it's bigger than Carlson. The constant blowback is about moving the goal posts, most recently voting restrictions. Donald Trump said there was voter fraud and he truly won the election and even Big Daddy Garlits believes it!
Yes, look at the maps. Chances are you live in a bubble, you only hear your own opinion repeated to you. As for those who feel differently, they've been excised from your life. Or they say they don't want to talk politics, but when you scratch the surface they support Trump, because it's good for their pocketbook.
This is America today. Yes, the police are killing Black people in the street, but almost half the country is laboring under reinforced falsehoods seen as facts that the police are innocent and the problem is with the protesters and you might read about it but you never experience it and then you get an e-mail from Big Daddy Garlits.
Words have consequences, as does spin. They call it America, but it's really two different countries. One that believes we're all in it together and another that is on high alert for impingement upon their "freedoms." Hell, people refuse to get vaccinated? God, vaccines were the breakthrough of the twentieth century, can you say POLIO? Would these same people refuse to get a polio shot? Hell, they're refusing to get a measles vaccination, the crackpots on the left too, who are so rich and educated that they believe they can create science, that they can bend facts, that the rules don't apply to them, to the point where measles have returned from the brink. As for getting a shot for the good of others? Screw others.
So no one really knows what is going on in the other camp, or just doesn't believe it. Believe that people think Trump won, just ask Big Daddy.
But the truth is the right is in lockstep sans agenda other than to thwart all Democratic legislation because... Because why? The public loves Obamacare, loves the stimulus bill and the infrastructure bill too. Why are Republican elected officials against it? Because politics is now a team sport. Even worse, facts are fungible. January 6th has been redefined, people didn't die, the protesters weren't violent, and really it was an antifa plot. Seems ridiculous, but history is being rewritten as I write this.
I just want to make you aware of it.
Rust never sleeps.
Never mind the undermining of truth by the right wing news outlets.
And why is this done? For power, for people like Murdoch, even though the rank and file are told it is being done for them as they vote against their interests.
It's true. All those people who believe the election was stolen from Trump and more.
Just ask Big Daddy.
Subject: "Big Daddy" Don Garlits Did Not
... appreciate my enlightening share, evidently.
DWjr
__________
Take me off your fucking list! I don't need to hear your liberal shit! Your type is what has happened to our great Nation! Go kiss the idiot Biden's ass, I don't care. He didn't get the most votes, it was a totally illegal election!! I know that for a fact!
Don Garlits
__________
In the 1960s there were two things every young boy paid attention to, baseball and ABC's "Wide World of Sports."
It wasn't until the late sixties that football superseded baseball as America's Pastime. Football moved faster in a world that was moving faster. The two leagues merged. There was the Super Bowl and then Joe Namath's called victory, baseball was never the same. But before that...scratch a baby boomer and they'll complain their parents threw out their baseball cards, they'd be worth so much if they still had them! We didn't save them in pristine condition in a vault as an investment, rather we put them all in a plastic bag and went to friends' houses and at first traded, and then flipped. Yes, you flipped for cards, today that would be called a sport.
As for Saturday afternoon... At five o'clock you watched "Wide World of Sports." This was before networks put a bug in the corner to remind you what channel you were watching. Most burgs only had three networks, and every kid could tell the difference, they knew the late night schedule by heart.
So, "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat." Boomers still employ that phrase today, usually ironically, but they know it better than religious treatises. And they also know the ski jumper who fell in the intro, everyone always wondered what happened to him, there was no internet, certainly no Wikipedia, unanswered questions were the rule of the day.
One can actually argue that ski jumping and bobsledding were bigger in the sixties, because they were constantly featured on "Wide World of Sports." And this was before the fitness boom, these were just regular people competing, you didn't have ringers from other sports, amazing physical specimens to add push and weight to your bobsled...this was a winter job, nearly a lark, and we watched...did you see when that four man sled went over the side and people died? It's embedded in my brain, I can see it right now, albeit in black and white.
Some sports have died along the way. Like barrel jumping. That was always from Grossinger's, in the Catskills. I remember when the record was just over ten, I believe it was twelve or so. Ultimately it went up to fourteen, fifteen, sixteen or... And if you crashed... The barrels were made out of cardboard, so the pain was lessened, but you still crashed on ice.
Another sport featured on "Wide World of Sports" was drag racing. Always from Southern California. California was exotic back then, no one saw a need to put it down, and being three hours behind the time, many people in business did not even think of it. But if you were a youngster, you had the Beach Boys, and the beach, and the girls on it, and drag racing...it was where you wanted to go and many did, for the freedom it promised, before freedom had different connotations and we started to argue over it. And one of the drag racing stars was Don "Big Daddy" Garlits. I never forgot him, who could forget that name, in an era where nicknames were prominent, like "Moose" Skowron, never mind Rattfink.
Who were these guys who built their own cars with the goal just to go fast for a quarter mile? You'd watch the different categories, gain knowledge that no one has today, in an era of specialization. This is stuff we were exposed to at a young age, Top Fuel, Funny Cars...not that I could ever figure out which one was faster, after all you got limited exposure, only on Saturday afternoons.
And the host was one Jim McKay. It took a decade for us to find out his real last name was "McManus," how would we know? But McKay ran herd over the entire enterprise, he was our trusted authority.
Of course as time went by more people became aware of McKay, he hosted the Olympics, but the Olympics back then had a fraction of the mindshare they do today, the winter games only lasted a week, and no one got rich, not even the networks, exploitation really began in the seventies, when ballparks lost their original monikers and players started to do huge endorsement deals.
In other words, back in the sixties, in the days of "Wide World of Sports," you can argue that life was quaint, one thing you can say for sure, we were always on the same page.
You cannot say that today.
2
What changed? Well, definitely there was the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, but in truth there was an explosion of options, first pay cable with HBO and then further premium channels as well as basic cable outlets and to think that Bruce Springsteen complained that there were only fifty seven channels and nothing on, talk about a dated view, today there are hundreds of channels, never mind streaming outlets, and people have so much to watch that many are cutting the cord, they can live quite easily without those hundreds of cable channels, they've got enough options.
Let's see what else changed.
Well, instead of love your brother it became about getting rich. Taxes dropped, income inequality soared, and in the nineties it looked like everybody was winning until...
The century turned. That's when things got bad.
It started with 9/11. It happened on American soil, the generation alive and aware back then is still not over it. And then the war. And then the 2008 crash.
Suddenly people realized there were winners and losers, and if you were a loser, it had to be somebody else's fault. And now there were numerous outlets to reinforce that notion. That someone stole your job, the immigrants... And foreign nations were ripe for abuse too. They took the jobs. Meanwhile, Americans would switch loyalties for one dollar. Look at airline tickets. To the point where you can buy a no-frills ticket, you can't even bring carry-on luggage, and people who buy these tickets always complain when they're confronted with the rules, how were they supposed to know, it's unfair! And one can criticize them for their ignorance, but the truth is we're constantly confronted with boilerplate and no one can be an expert on everything, and no one can sacrifice, make that the 28th Amendment. No one can lose their job, no technology can cause them to go out of business, no one can make less money as the future marches on. Of course this is untrue, but people believe this, especially those in power.
So let's say you had a job working with your hands. Most of those were shipped overseas, you can only get a service gig, retraining was a joke, and you made much less and your lifestyle took a nosedive. But as for personal impact by outside forces...it wasn't like an immigrant was taking your job, but immigrants did have jobs, even illegal immigrants, so therefore it must be affecting your job, because of the trickle down effect, just like with taxes.
Now the truth is a lot of the jobs immigrants do citizens do not want to. Like picking grapes, it's back-breaking work. But you read about those foreigners getting jobs in Silicon Valley, high-salaried ones, and you must be paying the price for that, you have to be. Furthermore, those who were supporting this way of life became the enemy, they weren't Americans, there became this myth about "real Americans," who worked hard, never got divorced, went to church, didn't do drugs and...few of these people exist, on either end of the political spectrum.
So what we ended up with was a divide.
3
I'd like to see Big Daddy's proof that Trump won. This is like that "Catfish" show on MTV. Let me see, a movie star is interested in dating me, even though I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Some things just make you laugh on the surface. But in a world where everybody should get paid as an artist and a reality TV star becomes president, everyone believes they know everything and are entitled to an opinion. As for others' contrasting opinions, they're inherently wrong. This is America's new sport, the divide between the believers, the political parties, not football, although they learned the game from football, it's dirty and violent and people cheat but it's all about winning.
Yesterday, Black people and liberals were thrilled that Chauvin was convicted. However, if you dialed in Fox, just the opposite happened. The debate was framed as pro or con police. There's not a single American who believes there should be no police, but somehow nearly half the country believes people are saying this. It's become an issue of semantics, catchphrases, Frank Luntz realized it was all in how you labeled it, "Death Taxes" bad, "Estate Taxes" not so much, so let's change the term and the perception.
If you go to Fox News on your phone right now, you'll find the Chauvin trial takes a back seat to stories about liberal media, and AOC and Hollywood and... As for Chauvin, all the stories are not about the conviction, but the penumbra, that the left just isn't satisfied.
There are some Chauvin headlines on the sides of the page if you're using your desktop browser, but if you're on your phone the only relevant story is about how Pelosi handled Maxine Waters's "revolting" remarks.
In other words, the Chauvin trial is already in the rearview mirror in the Fox News bubble. It's back to belittling the left ad infinitum.
Note, the right is playing this game quite well, but it doesn't have its own agenda, other than a return to the past. And while we're at it, why don't we get rid of music streaming, electric automobiles, smartphones... You can't go back, it's impossible. As for manufacturing in America... Are you willing to pay two grand for a basic flat screen? Five grand for a laptop?
4
Tucker Carlson has gotten a beating in the press. But the press is now wrong unless you agree with it, the right has eliminated the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," they're biased and must be ignored. Carlson employs the replacement theory, an anti-Semitic trope, and when criticized for it, by the Anti-Defamation League and more, he doubles down.
But it's bigger than Carlson. The constant blowback is about moving the goal posts, most recently voting restrictions. Donald Trump said there was voter fraud and he truly won the election and even Big Daddy Garlits believes it!
Yes, look at the maps. Chances are you live in a bubble, you only hear your own opinion repeated to you. As for those who feel differently, they've been excised from your life. Or they say they don't want to talk politics, but when you scratch the surface they support Trump, because it's good for their pocketbook.
This is America today. Yes, the police are killing Black people in the street, but almost half the country is laboring under reinforced falsehoods seen as facts that the police are innocent and the problem is with the protesters and you might read about it but you never experience it and then you get an e-mail from Big Daddy Garlits.
Words have consequences, as does spin. They call it America, but it's really two different countries. One that believes we're all in it together and another that is on high alert for impingement upon their "freedoms." Hell, people refuse to get vaccinated? God, vaccines were the breakthrough of the twentieth century, can you say POLIO? Would these same people refuse to get a polio shot? Hell, they're refusing to get a measles vaccination, the crackpots on the left too, who are so rich and educated that they believe they can create science, that they can bend facts, that the rules don't apply to them, to the point where measles have returned from the brink. As for getting a shot for the good of others? Screw others.
So no one really knows what is going on in the other camp, or just doesn't believe it. Believe that people think Trump won, just ask Big Daddy.
But the truth is the right is in lockstep sans agenda other than to thwart all Democratic legislation because... Because why? The public loves Obamacare, loves the stimulus bill and the infrastructure bill too. Why are Republican elected officials against it? Because politics is now a team sport. Even worse, facts are fungible. January 6th has been redefined, people didn't die, the protesters weren't violent, and really it was an antifa plot. Seems ridiculous, but history is being rewritten as I write this.
I just want to make you aware of it.
Rust never sleeps.
Never mind the undermining of truth by the right wing news outlets.
And why is this done? For power, for people like Murdoch, even though the rank and file are told it is being done for them as they vote against their interests.
It's true. All those people who believe the election was stolen from Trump and more.
Just ask Big Daddy.
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Tuesday 20 April 2021
The Apple Presentation
I'm more excited about software.
Today Apple introduced new iPad Pros, a new small iMac with the M1 processor, a new Apple TV...but the highlight was the footage from the new season of "Ted Lasso"...
"I never met someone who don't eat sugar, only heard about 'em, they all live in this godless place called Santa Monica."
I laughed out loud. Inside humor is still the best, which SNL used to specialize in before it went so broad as to be nearly slapstick. It's hard to go into the nooks and crannies today, very few get the joke, but that's where the bonding occurs. I was never a fan of Jason Sudeikis, but "Ted Lasso" made me one, and that line re sugar just bonded me to him more.
This was not the Steve Jobs presentation of yore, it was not live, but pre-produced, at a Hollywood level. There was even a superhero segment, akin to "Topkapi," but for the small screen. I guess this is what today's audience wants, nothing too deep, not that this Apple presentation wasn't woke.
If you stayed until the end, there was a cornucopia of disclaimers re Covid protocols. They used to be de rigueur, but now they're political, with so many re-entering society, sans masks, willy-nilly. It always works out the same way, the educated benefit. Yes, you can refrain from getting a vaccine for fear of...well, nothing. You can go out without a mask. But the joke is on you. As for you interacting with the rest of us, hmm...that's what we're debating right now, your ability to be free to infect the rest of us, can't say I agree with that, that's not my idea of freedom.
So, Steve Jobs had gravitas, he was a rock star delivering his new show, with production, building to the great reveal at the end of "One more thing..." But that paradigm died with Steve, as well as the Apple philosophy of keep it simple stupid. Today Apple offers so many products in so many iterations it's mind-blowing. Amazing how one person can affect the culture so dramatically. Those were key elements of Apple, the minimalist design and the ease in buying. Now, you've got to study up before you purchase. And what are you gonna purchase?
You need those new tags, that work via FindMy. Come on, you know you do. To be able to find your keys via your phone? Think of what you can attach tags to... They're vastly overpriced, yet still cheap, so they will be the new AirPods. Yes, in a world of software, where everything is on demand and we own little, never underestimate the power of these little signifiers. You want to go to the restaurant, assuming we can safely do so, and lay your keys with their Apple tag on the table. Which is why so many wankers bought AirPods, they were less concerned with the sound than the look.
As for a purple iPhone... Am I the only one who doesn't get iPhone colors? I mean you put it in a case...
But iMac colors, those were cool, we haven't had that spirit here since...1998, when the first candy-colored iMacs were released. The inventory controls? Ugh! Then again, this is testimony to how many they sell. As for improvements, the M1 processor is a big deal, the instant on if nothing else. And the ability to shrink the innards and increase screen size all in an extremely thin package is amazing, but doesn't anybody who really cares about sound use external speakers?
The iPad Pro... They keep telling us it's a desktop replacement, but I don't know anybody who uses it this way. As for the Pro designation, if you watched this presentation you realized...you were not going to use most of its capabilities, this is one product truly for pros.
The new Apple TV? Overpriced. Everyone says to get a Roku instead. Roku's business model is different, you get the device in people's hands, and then Roku gets paid by the channels, even building its own channel. Apple is losing the market share race, and that is important, it's all about critical mass, and Apple is losing it, some items are commodities and some are not, a TV streaming box is one, nearly fungible, you can get essentially everything you want for fifty bucks from Amazon or Roku, why spend four times the amount for an Apple device? Apple is blowing it with TV like Amazon blew it with the Fire phone. However, there was one cool feature, the ability to calibrate your screen, i.e. software. I mean it's like magic. You hold your iPhone up to your TV and the image is instantly adjusted. This is a breakthrough, however one few people will experience.
As for the talent...
Apple seems to be able to do what Hollywood just talks about. There was a plethora of female presenters. They are stars in their own right. However, the more you saw them the more you scratched your head and wondered...how come there isn't a woman with a Senior VP title? As for people of color, the man in the d?star with the South Asian name... Apple is the MTV of yore. Yes, younger generations in the late twentieth century learned on MTV that we were all equal, people of color, races...in most cases they could be equally insane! Now Apple is leading the charge... Its presenters look like America.
As for music...it wasn't an element. There was a closing ditty that was kind of catchy, but is that the main criterion now, mindless catchiness? You see Apple doesn't need music. If anything, it's been burned by the music business. As in the Jimmy Iovine/U2 debacle. But the funny thing is there's no act with the gravitas, appeal and reach of U2 which could fill the band's shoes today. And the world has evolved, the truth is the baby boomers no longer own it. They're trying to rule it, but they don't own it. You looked at the people in the presentation and you realized...they're the children of the baby boomers, with different mores and wants.
Oh yeah, there was an incomprehensible introduction of paid podcasts, but the truth will dribble out in the press. As for Tim Cook's claim that you could support your favorite creator...that's kind of rich. The guy makes tens of millions and he's talking about creative people making pennies. As for Spotify's tip jar, that's an insult, whoever came up with that should be shot. If the act is not making enough on the platform to ask people to donate is just heinous, either pay creators more or shut up.
But the techies are bad with creativity. They don't understand the ethos. Then again, for far too long the ethos of the creators has fallen in line with those of the techies. Artists are not about the money, certainly not first, they're about the message. And prior to this century everybody knew in the creative arts only a few could support themselves, come on, it was a cliché, no parent wanted their child to be an artist. But today, with the low barrier to entry on Spotify and other platforms everybody believes they're an artist and entitled to make a living. Who says? The business people know there is no free lunch, how come the artists don't? And instead of complaining they should speak truth to power and then money would rain down. Isn't it fascinating, with all the bitching about streaming payments, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, ever talks about the art, it's about the money and nothing else. But that's America today, where everybody feels entitled to be rich and famous, where everybody believes their failures are someone else's fault, where everybody is looking for someone to save them when the truth is no one will.
Then again, the boomers want no change. And one thing is for sure...this presentation was all about change, pushing the envelope. If you jetted back twenty years and watched this you'd be positively stunned, you'd be drooling, but that's how far we've come, so quickly, we're no longer wowed, we expect these advancements.
But irrelevant of the products, this presentation was a triumph of marketing, a commercial in a world no one wants to watch an ad. You felt like you were getting a peak inside, if anything you wanted to work inside.
But the truth is the real power is now in the software. We need our gadgets, but our excitement over them waned years ago. The hardware is just the platform, what does the software allow us to do?
And the truth is the software is the layer between Apple and us, whether it be Big Sur or Facebook or Spotify or... This is our responsibility, this is our challenge, this is what we can do...take all these tools and create greatness. Either do that or get out of the channel, it's too crowded already.
Today Apple introduced new iPad Pros, a new small iMac with the M1 processor, a new Apple TV...but the highlight was the footage from the new season of "Ted Lasso"...
"I never met someone who don't eat sugar, only heard about 'em, they all live in this godless place called Santa Monica."
I laughed out loud. Inside humor is still the best, which SNL used to specialize in before it went so broad as to be nearly slapstick. It's hard to go into the nooks and crannies today, very few get the joke, but that's where the bonding occurs. I was never a fan of Jason Sudeikis, but "Ted Lasso" made me one, and that line re sugar just bonded me to him more.
This was not the Steve Jobs presentation of yore, it was not live, but pre-produced, at a Hollywood level. There was even a superhero segment, akin to "Topkapi," but for the small screen. I guess this is what today's audience wants, nothing too deep, not that this Apple presentation wasn't woke.
If you stayed until the end, there was a cornucopia of disclaimers re Covid protocols. They used to be de rigueur, but now they're political, with so many re-entering society, sans masks, willy-nilly. It always works out the same way, the educated benefit. Yes, you can refrain from getting a vaccine for fear of...well, nothing. You can go out without a mask. But the joke is on you. As for you interacting with the rest of us, hmm...that's what we're debating right now, your ability to be free to infect the rest of us, can't say I agree with that, that's not my idea of freedom.
So, Steve Jobs had gravitas, he was a rock star delivering his new show, with production, building to the great reveal at the end of "One more thing..." But that paradigm died with Steve, as well as the Apple philosophy of keep it simple stupid. Today Apple offers so many products in so many iterations it's mind-blowing. Amazing how one person can affect the culture so dramatically. Those were key elements of Apple, the minimalist design and the ease in buying. Now, you've got to study up before you purchase. And what are you gonna purchase?
You need those new tags, that work via FindMy. Come on, you know you do. To be able to find your keys via your phone? Think of what you can attach tags to... They're vastly overpriced, yet still cheap, so they will be the new AirPods. Yes, in a world of software, where everything is on demand and we own little, never underestimate the power of these little signifiers. You want to go to the restaurant, assuming we can safely do so, and lay your keys with their Apple tag on the table. Which is why so many wankers bought AirPods, they were less concerned with the sound than the look.
As for a purple iPhone... Am I the only one who doesn't get iPhone colors? I mean you put it in a case...
But iMac colors, those were cool, we haven't had that spirit here since...1998, when the first candy-colored iMacs were released. The inventory controls? Ugh! Then again, this is testimony to how many they sell. As for improvements, the M1 processor is a big deal, the instant on if nothing else. And the ability to shrink the innards and increase screen size all in an extremely thin package is amazing, but doesn't anybody who really cares about sound use external speakers?
The iPad Pro... They keep telling us it's a desktop replacement, but I don't know anybody who uses it this way. As for the Pro designation, if you watched this presentation you realized...you were not going to use most of its capabilities, this is one product truly for pros.
The new Apple TV? Overpriced. Everyone says to get a Roku instead. Roku's business model is different, you get the device in people's hands, and then Roku gets paid by the channels, even building its own channel. Apple is losing the market share race, and that is important, it's all about critical mass, and Apple is losing it, some items are commodities and some are not, a TV streaming box is one, nearly fungible, you can get essentially everything you want for fifty bucks from Amazon or Roku, why spend four times the amount for an Apple device? Apple is blowing it with TV like Amazon blew it with the Fire phone. However, there was one cool feature, the ability to calibrate your screen, i.e. software. I mean it's like magic. You hold your iPhone up to your TV and the image is instantly adjusted. This is a breakthrough, however one few people will experience.
As for the talent...
Apple seems to be able to do what Hollywood just talks about. There was a plethora of female presenters. They are stars in their own right. However, the more you saw them the more you scratched your head and wondered...how come there isn't a woman with a Senior VP title? As for people of color, the man in the d?star with the South Asian name... Apple is the MTV of yore. Yes, younger generations in the late twentieth century learned on MTV that we were all equal, people of color, races...in most cases they could be equally insane! Now Apple is leading the charge... Its presenters look like America.
As for music...it wasn't an element. There was a closing ditty that was kind of catchy, but is that the main criterion now, mindless catchiness? You see Apple doesn't need music. If anything, it's been burned by the music business. As in the Jimmy Iovine/U2 debacle. But the funny thing is there's no act with the gravitas, appeal and reach of U2 which could fill the band's shoes today. And the world has evolved, the truth is the baby boomers no longer own it. They're trying to rule it, but they don't own it. You looked at the people in the presentation and you realized...they're the children of the baby boomers, with different mores and wants.
Oh yeah, there was an incomprehensible introduction of paid podcasts, but the truth will dribble out in the press. As for Tim Cook's claim that you could support your favorite creator...that's kind of rich. The guy makes tens of millions and he's talking about creative people making pennies. As for Spotify's tip jar, that's an insult, whoever came up with that should be shot. If the act is not making enough on the platform to ask people to donate is just heinous, either pay creators more or shut up.
But the techies are bad with creativity. They don't understand the ethos. Then again, for far too long the ethos of the creators has fallen in line with those of the techies. Artists are not about the money, certainly not first, they're about the message. And prior to this century everybody knew in the creative arts only a few could support themselves, come on, it was a cliché, no parent wanted their child to be an artist. But today, with the low barrier to entry on Spotify and other platforms everybody believes they're an artist and entitled to make a living. Who says? The business people know there is no free lunch, how come the artists don't? And instead of complaining they should speak truth to power and then money would rain down. Isn't it fascinating, with all the bitching about streaming payments, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, ever talks about the art, it's about the money and nothing else. But that's America today, where everybody feels entitled to be rich and famous, where everybody believes their failures are someone else's fault, where everybody is looking for someone to save them when the truth is no one will.
Then again, the boomers want no change. And one thing is for sure...this presentation was all about change, pushing the envelope. If you jetted back twenty years and watched this you'd be positively stunned, you'd be drooling, but that's how far we've come, so quickly, we're no longer wowed, we expect these advancements.
But irrelevant of the products, this presentation was a triumph of marketing, a commercial in a world no one wants to watch an ad. You felt like you were getting a peak inside, if anything you wanted to work inside.
But the truth is the real power is now in the software. We need our gadgets, but our excitement over them waned years ago. The hardware is just the platform, what does the software allow us to do?
And the truth is the software is the layer between Apple and us, whether it be Big Sur or Facebook or Spotify or... This is our responsibility, this is our challenge, this is what we can do...take all these tools and create greatness. Either do that or get out of the channel, it's too crowded already.
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Monday 19 April 2021
Musicians Acting In Movies-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in tomorrow, April 20th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive
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Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
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Strange Brew
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xacQ3C
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3x9cmKX
1
Most people had no idea who Eric Clapton was. Nor had they heard "Sunshine of Your Love," it wasn't until the summer of '68 that the track crossed over from FM to AM, in an era where most markets didn't even have an FM rock station. Yes, in the late sixties you could be hip or not. Today everybody is both hip and out of it. We know so many trends yet we don't know others. You can lay into someone for being out of the loop, but they can give it right back to you if they dare.
So the cognoscenti knew Clapton from John Mayall's "Blues Breakers" album. That was released in 1966, can you imagine? Nancy Sinatra's boots were walking on AM radio, and at the end of the year the Monkees arrived on that train. But there were no hits on the John Mayall album, either you owned it and you knew it or you were completely out of the loop. Eventually, with the rise of Clapton's fame, people discovered it, but to say Clapton was God in America in 1966 would be like saying you were, he was just that insignificant. But there was definitely something happening here, and it was only clear to a coterie of blues freaks in the U.K. and a few in the U.S., like Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun, who grew up with the sound. As for the American hoi polloi? Hendrix, never mind heavier blues-influenced acts, hadn't even released a record yet, never mind gained notice.
Mayall's group was a training ground, and Eric Clapton left to team up with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in Cream. It was not a supergroup, there was no such thing, that had to wait a couple of years until 1969 and Blind Faith, most people, certainly in the U.S., had no idea who the three players were.
And some of those who knew Clapton from Mayall's group purchased "Fresh Cream," which was released at the end of '66, but the truth is the album didn't dent the universe, it was hand sold, nearly underground, back when scenes percolated and eventually broke through, or didn't. It was very different from today, where everybody knows everything at the same time, assuming they care, and innovation is secondary to repetition. And sure, the Beatles were rich, but most people outside Hollywood and New York, who weren't making bubble gum music, who considered themselves musicians first and stars second, if at all, were not in it for the money, there just wasn't that much money.
Now the truth is "Fresh Cream" is an excellent album. But the sound was just not immediate enough, in your face enough. It was thrilling to go back and listen to "N.S.U." and "I'm So Glad" after the band broke up, but most people didn't buy "Fresh Cream" and once the band reached stardom so many were looky-loos that they didn't go back either. But "Disraeli Gears"...
I heard "Sunshine of Your Love" on FM radio. There were multiple stations in New York. Not only WOR, but WABC and WNEW, it was a cornucopia of choices, assuming you were hip, had an FM radio at all. But those of us who did... It definitely wasn't about the money, there were very few ads, it was about being a member of a secret club, knowing all the deejays, having a personal relationship, talking with your buddies at school about the tracks you discovered.
And this was before I could drive. So I was dependent upon my mother taking me to the store. And she'd never make a trip just for a record, but I could ride along and comb the bins and find something and buy it while she and my sister were traveling the aisles. And one day in Barker's in February '67, I purchased "Disraeli Gears."
You've got to know this was the era where album art was everything. If it was just a picture of the band the album wasn't worth buying, you had to make a statement, and one could stare at "Disraeli Gears" forever, not that it was ever one of my favorite sleeves, but that's what you did while you dropped the needle and listened.
And of course I went to track 2 first, to hear "Sunshine of Your Love" on demand in my own home, it was an indelible riff. One eventually known by everybody, still known by every boomer alive, one we played on our guitars, one we sang along to on the radio.
And the truth is my favorite track on the LP, then and now, which is a rarity, is "Tales of Brave Ulysses." It's dark. A descending trip below the earth's surface to where it was only you and the band on the excursion. And Clapton's guitar set the tone, but the truth is the track is put over the top by Jack Bruce's vocal...rich and meaningful.
And the reality is "Disraeli Gears" is inconsistent, I'd argue the songs on "Fresh Cream" are better, but that does not mean I don't know every lick by heart. Because owning it, you played it. Music was scarce, you got your money's worth.
My third favorite song on "Disraeli Gears" is probably track four on the first side, "Dance the Night Away." And that riff on "SWLABR" was indelible, not that we could ever figure out what the title stood for. But my favorite was never "Strange Brew."
2
Saturday I was asleep. The walking dead. I don't know, I didn't get a good night's sleep, I went out hiking and was in a daze. And I was worried I'd fall asleep on the drive home, but then I heard "Strange Brew."
I could never figure out why "Sunshine of Your Love" was not the opening track, it was better, it was the hit.
But I'm driving in my car, not playing my guitar, but definitely feeling free, and I hear the lick. Normally I'd switch the channel, from Classic Vinyl to Howard or something, but this night "Strange Brew" resonated, and I'm not sure it's ever resonated this way.
The last time I played "Disraeli Gears"? I can't remember. I have played "Tales of Brave Ulysses," I never play "Sunshine of Your Love," and the truth is I push the button when I hear these old Cream tracks, they're over fifty years old, Clapton has superseded them. But for some reason, "Strange Brew" felt like an old pair of shoes, comfortable, like running into a college buddy and getting right back in the groove, as if no time had passed.
That stinging guitar... This was before we thought of Clapton first and the playing second, it was just an intro, and then...
"Strange brew
Kill what's inside of you"
Clapton? There was no Wikipedia back then, there were no extensive credits on the LP and supposedly Delaney Bramlett ultimately made Clapton comfortable with his voice and they recorded Eric's solo debut, but this was long before that. Yes, I realized "Strange Brew" was sung by Clapton, and it was so weird, the opening cut, when Jack Bruce was clearly the lead singer?
"She's a witch of trouble in electric blue
In her own mad mind she's in love with you
With you
Now what you gonna do"
The lyrics are clear with remastering and today's playback systems, but back then that's not how we were listening, we had all-in-one record players with a small built-in speaker, which is one of the reasons we all graduated to component systems, we needed to get closer to the sound, but we weren't at that point yet. So, chances are most people could not pick out the lyrics, never mind make sense of them.
"On a boat in the middle of a raging sea
She would make a scene for it all to be
Ignored
And wouldn't you be bored"
The truth is I caught all of these lines except the second, until maybe today, meaning that I was unclear of the meaning, but the feel was everything.
And in my car, long after dark, I'm driving the curves of Sunset and I'm taken right back to 1968, it's just that it truly seems like yesterday, like I'd played "Disraeli Gears" just the night before. The album was something I listened to alone in the dark, most of it I never heard on the radio, it was a private experience, then and now. And scraping away the history, the arc of Clapton's rise to superstardom, the war between the band members, it just sounded like three blokes having a good time doing their best to capture their sound on wax, not a vehicle for a big publicity campaign, but just music. To the players this was not a new sound, they'd been growing up in this groove, but not the rest of us, our lives had been more AM pop.
So the track is playing and...I'm anticipating what's to come. I'd played "Strange Brew" so much back then that it was burned into my soul, despite being a secondary cut and never my favorite. In my mind I was waiting for that closing riff, that Clapton could toss off without thinking, but almost no one else could. And when it came I was satisfied, no, elated.
3
In a matter of months everything changed. "Sunshine of Your Love" became a monstrous single and the band released the double album "Wheels of Fire" and by the fall of '68, Cream was everywhere, kind of like Led Zeppelin with their second album two years later. "White Room" was added immediately to AM radio and this drove album sales and every wannabe or in reality stoner owned it and testified about it. It was all about the live second disc. This was the first drum solo most people had ever been exposed to, the fact that it went on for sixteen plus minutes did not take away from its coolness, people listened to it. And the second side of the second album started with "Train Time," Jack Bruce's workout, his starring moment, before the album switched to "Toad," but really it was about the first live side, with "Crossroads" and "Spoonful."
Despite being a Robert Johnson classic, most people weren't aware of the delta blues original, this was the first time they heard the song, and Clapton's playing here turned him into the icon he became in the mind of America. It was one thing to play Beatle songs on the guitar, quite another to be able to pull off "Crossroads." As for the following "Spoonful," this sound was nowhere else, this was envelope-pushing to listeners, they were suddenly exposed to the blues, an American sound, via this English group.
But Cream had already had enough. Just when everybody was coming up to speed, the band said it was going to break up, which was hard to understand, now everyone knows who you are, you're making money, and you're gonna give it all up?? This was before the Beatles broke up, nobody broke up, you just rode the wave until it crashed. You certainly didn't break up because it no longer felt right. People were completely flummoxed, they couldn't understand it, and although I saw the act at the New Haven Arena their last time through, most people missed it completely, by time they came on board it was over.
But there was a clean-up album, "Goodbye," and the funny thing was demand was so strong that the album sold and sold and everybody knew it, even though the act was history. And yes, there were definitive live versions of "I'm So Glad" and "Politician," but the best track on the LP was on the second, studio side, the indelible "Badge," with L'Angelo Misterioso/George Harrison's rhythm guitar work, and Clapton's incredible descending solo, your head banging around in a sea of wind chimes. Clapton was truly god, he'd move on to work with Delaney & Bonnie, going on tour with the act and then forming the ill-fated Blind Faith before releasing his under-recognized solo debut in the spring of 1970, before forming Derek & the Dominos and becoming a legend with "Layla"...and other love songs.
4
And the truth now is Clapton's fame has superseded Cream's by a long shot. Cream was a blip on the radar screen, Eric has been through so many changes since then, even many styles, making it with quiet ballads in addition to wailing guitar solos.
But there was that Cream reunion fifteen years ago, so those who weren't there the first time around could see the band and the drummer and bass player could be made financially whole. But by time the show got to New York, the magic was gone. Doing it on a lark is one thing, repeating it is another.
Now in 1970, "Live Cream" was released. And then two years later, "Live Cream Volume II." You'd see them in the bins, but the hard core never bought them, they looked like a dash for cash, the past, when there was so much new music to be excited about.
But that was then and this is now.
Today, being a musician is second to being a brand. Chops? Well, they're built on social media, as for spending years perfecting your guitar skills, very few do that. That's not the sound people want to hear. So, strangely, it's like it was fifty years ago, the original music, in that case delta blues, in this case Cream and English blues-rock, are hiding in plain sight, will this sound be rediscovered?
The blues never dies. There are people playing it today. But it just doesn't square with radio and promotion paradigms, the songs are extended, they're often sludgy and quiet, today everything has to be immediate, upbeat, up front and center.
And then I'm driving in my car and I stumble upon "Strange Brew" and I'm reminded of the magic that once was. When this business was being built. Before tickets were a hundred bucks and the acts took the lion's share of the money, when a gold record was not 500,000 units, but $500,000. The music business was just growing out of its sideshow status. But music was where it was all happening, where limits were being tested, and you had to listen if you wanted to know which way the wind blew, and that was very important back then.
But we've been through so many changes since then. Corporate rock. Disco. MTV. Grunge. Hip-hop... Cream is ancient history. But the funny thing is the records haven't changed, and since they weren't made to fit in, they still stand out today, there's nothing else quite like them. Strange brew indeed!
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1
Most people had no idea who Eric Clapton was. Nor had they heard "Sunshine of Your Love," it wasn't until the summer of '68 that the track crossed over from FM to AM, in an era where most markets didn't even have an FM rock station. Yes, in the late sixties you could be hip or not. Today everybody is both hip and out of it. We know so many trends yet we don't know others. You can lay into someone for being out of the loop, but they can give it right back to you if they dare.
So the cognoscenti knew Clapton from John Mayall's "Blues Breakers" album. That was released in 1966, can you imagine? Nancy Sinatra's boots were walking on AM radio, and at the end of the year the Monkees arrived on that train. But there were no hits on the John Mayall album, either you owned it and you knew it or you were completely out of the loop. Eventually, with the rise of Clapton's fame, people discovered it, but to say Clapton was God in America in 1966 would be like saying you were, he was just that insignificant. But there was definitely something happening here, and it was only clear to a coterie of blues freaks in the U.K. and a few in the U.S., like Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun, who grew up with the sound. As for the American hoi polloi? Hendrix, never mind heavier blues-influenced acts, hadn't even released a record yet, never mind gained notice.
Mayall's group was a training ground, and Eric Clapton left to team up with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in Cream. It was not a supergroup, there was no such thing, that had to wait a couple of years until 1969 and Blind Faith, most people, certainly in the U.S., had no idea who the three players were.
And some of those who knew Clapton from Mayall's group purchased "Fresh Cream," which was released at the end of '66, but the truth is the album didn't dent the universe, it was hand sold, nearly underground, back when scenes percolated and eventually broke through, or didn't. It was very different from today, where everybody knows everything at the same time, assuming they care, and innovation is secondary to repetition. And sure, the Beatles were rich, but most people outside Hollywood and New York, who weren't making bubble gum music, who considered themselves musicians first and stars second, if at all, were not in it for the money, there just wasn't that much money.
Now the truth is "Fresh Cream" is an excellent album. But the sound was just not immediate enough, in your face enough. It was thrilling to go back and listen to "N.S.U." and "I'm So Glad" after the band broke up, but most people didn't buy "Fresh Cream" and once the band reached stardom so many were looky-loos that they didn't go back either. But "Disraeli Gears"...
I heard "Sunshine of Your Love" on FM radio. There were multiple stations in New York. Not only WOR, but WABC and WNEW, it was a cornucopia of choices, assuming you were hip, had an FM radio at all. But those of us who did... It definitely wasn't about the money, there were very few ads, it was about being a member of a secret club, knowing all the deejays, having a personal relationship, talking with your buddies at school about the tracks you discovered.
And this was before I could drive. So I was dependent upon my mother taking me to the store. And she'd never make a trip just for a record, but I could ride along and comb the bins and find something and buy it while she and my sister were traveling the aisles. And one day in Barker's in February '67, I purchased "Disraeli Gears."
You've got to know this was the era where album art was everything. If it was just a picture of the band the album wasn't worth buying, you had to make a statement, and one could stare at "Disraeli Gears" forever, not that it was ever one of my favorite sleeves, but that's what you did while you dropped the needle and listened.
And of course I went to track 2 first, to hear "Sunshine of Your Love" on demand in my own home, it was an indelible riff. One eventually known by everybody, still known by every boomer alive, one we played on our guitars, one we sang along to on the radio.
And the truth is my favorite track on the LP, then and now, which is a rarity, is "Tales of Brave Ulysses." It's dark. A descending trip below the earth's surface to where it was only you and the band on the excursion. And Clapton's guitar set the tone, but the truth is the track is put over the top by Jack Bruce's vocal...rich and meaningful.
And the reality is "Disraeli Gears" is inconsistent, I'd argue the songs on "Fresh Cream" are better, but that does not mean I don't know every lick by heart. Because owning it, you played it. Music was scarce, you got your money's worth.
My third favorite song on "Disraeli Gears" is probably track four on the first side, "Dance the Night Away." And that riff on "SWLABR" was indelible, not that we could ever figure out what the title stood for. But my favorite was never "Strange Brew."
2
Saturday I was asleep. The walking dead. I don't know, I didn't get a good night's sleep, I went out hiking and was in a daze. And I was worried I'd fall asleep on the drive home, but then I heard "Strange Brew."
I could never figure out why "Sunshine of Your Love" was not the opening track, it was better, it was the hit.
But I'm driving in my car, not playing my guitar, but definitely feeling free, and I hear the lick. Normally I'd switch the channel, from Classic Vinyl to Howard or something, but this night "Strange Brew" resonated, and I'm not sure it's ever resonated this way.
The last time I played "Disraeli Gears"? I can't remember. I have played "Tales of Brave Ulysses," I never play "Sunshine of Your Love," and the truth is I push the button when I hear these old Cream tracks, they're over fifty years old, Clapton has superseded them. But for some reason, "Strange Brew" felt like an old pair of shoes, comfortable, like running into a college buddy and getting right back in the groove, as if no time had passed.
That stinging guitar... This was before we thought of Clapton first and the playing second, it was just an intro, and then...
"Strange brew
Kill what's inside of you"
Clapton? There was no Wikipedia back then, there were no extensive credits on the LP and supposedly Delaney Bramlett ultimately made Clapton comfortable with his voice and they recorded Eric's solo debut, but this was long before that. Yes, I realized "Strange Brew" was sung by Clapton, and it was so weird, the opening cut, when Jack Bruce was clearly the lead singer?
"She's a witch of trouble in electric blue
In her own mad mind she's in love with you
With you
Now what you gonna do"
The lyrics are clear with remastering and today's playback systems, but back then that's not how we were listening, we had all-in-one record players with a small built-in speaker, which is one of the reasons we all graduated to component systems, we needed to get closer to the sound, but we weren't at that point yet. So, chances are most people could not pick out the lyrics, never mind make sense of them.
"On a boat in the middle of a raging sea
She would make a scene for it all to be
Ignored
And wouldn't you be bored"
The truth is I caught all of these lines except the second, until maybe today, meaning that I was unclear of the meaning, but the feel was everything.
And in my car, long after dark, I'm driving the curves of Sunset and I'm taken right back to 1968, it's just that it truly seems like yesterday, like I'd played "Disraeli Gears" just the night before. The album was something I listened to alone in the dark, most of it I never heard on the radio, it was a private experience, then and now. And scraping away the history, the arc of Clapton's rise to superstardom, the war between the band members, it just sounded like three blokes having a good time doing their best to capture their sound on wax, not a vehicle for a big publicity campaign, but just music. To the players this was not a new sound, they'd been growing up in this groove, but not the rest of us, our lives had been more AM pop.
So the track is playing and...I'm anticipating what's to come. I'd played "Strange Brew" so much back then that it was burned into my soul, despite being a secondary cut and never my favorite. In my mind I was waiting for that closing riff, that Clapton could toss off without thinking, but almost no one else could. And when it came I was satisfied, no, elated.
3
In a matter of months everything changed. "Sunshine of Your Love" became a monstrous single and the band released the double album "Wheels of Fire" and by the fall of '68, Cream was everywhere, kind of like Led Zeppelin with their second album two years later. "White Room" was added immediately to AM radio and this drove album sales and every wannabe or in reality stoner owned it and testified about it. It was all about the live second disc. This was the first drum solo most people had ever been exposed to, the fact that it went on for sixteen plus minutes did not take away from its coolness, people listened to it. And the second side of the second album started with "Train Time," Jack Bruce's workout, his starring moment, before the album switched to "Toad," but really it was about the first live side, with "Crossroads" and "Spoonful."
Despite being a Robert Johnson classic, most people weren't aware of the delta blues original, this was the first time they heard the song, and Clapton's playing here turned him into the icon he became in the mind of America. It was one thing to play Beatle songs on the guitar, quite another to be able to pull off "Crossroads." As for the following "Spoonful," this sound was nowhere else, this was envelope-pushing to listeners, they were suddenly exposed to the blues, an American sound, via this English group.
But Cream had already had enough. Just when everybody was coming up to speed, the band said it was going to break up, which was hard to understand, now everyone knows who you are, you're making money, and you're gonna give it all up?? This was before the Beatles broke up, nobody broke up, you just rode the wave until it crashed. You certainly didn't break up because it no longer felt right. People were completely flummoxed, they couldn't understand it, and although I saw the act at the New Haven Arena their last time through, most people missed it completely, by time they came on board it was over.
But there was a clean-up album, "Goodbye," and the funny thing was demand was so strong that the album sold and sold and everybody knew it, even though the act was history. And yes, there were definitive live versions of "I'm So Glad" and "Politician," but the best track on the LP was on the second, studio side, the indelible "Badge," with L'Angelo Misterioso/George Harrison's rhythm guitar work, and Clapton's incredible descending solo, your head banging around in a sea of wind chimes. Clapton was truly god, he'd move on to work with Delaney & Bonnie, going on tour with the act and then forming the ill-fated Blind Faith before releasing his under-recognized solo debut in the spring of 1970, before forming Derek & the Dominos and becoming a legend with "Layla"...and other love songs.
4
And the truth now is Clapton's fame has superseded Cream's by a long shot. Cream was a blip on the radar screen, Eric has been through so many changes since then, even many styles, making it with quiet ballads in addition to wailing guitar solos.
But there was that Cream reunion fifteen years ago, so those who weren't there the first time around could see the band and the drummer and bass player could be made financially whole. But by time the show got to New York, the magic was gone. Doing it on a lark is one thing, repeating it is another.
Now in 1970, "Live Cream" was released. And then two years later, "Live Cream Volume II." You'd see them in the bins, but the hard core never bought them, they looked like a dash for cash, the past, when there was so much new music to be excited about.
But that was then and this is now.
Today, being a musician is second to being a brand. Chops? Well, they're built on social media, as for spending years perfecting your guitar skills, very few do that. That's not the sound people want to hear. So, strangely, it's like it was fifty years ago, the original music, in that case delta blues, in this case Cream and English blues-rock, are hiding in plain sight, will this sound be rediscovered?
The blues never dies. There are people playing it today. But it just doesn't square with radio and promotion paradigms, the songs are extended, they're often sludgy and quiet, today everything has to be immediate, upbeat, up front and center.
And then I'm driving in my car and I stumble upon "Strange Brew" and I'm reminded of the magic that once was. When this business was being built. Before tickets were a hundred bucks and the acts took the lion's share of the money, when a gold record was not 500,000 units, but $500,000. The music business was just growing out of its sideshow status. But music was where it was all happening, where limits were being tested, and you had to listen if you wanted to know which way the wind blew, and that was very important back then.
But we've been through so many changes since then. Corporate rock. Disco. MTV. Grunge. Hip-hop... Cream is ancient history. But the funny thing is the records haven't changed, and since they weren't made to fit in, they still stand out today, there's nothing else quite like them. Strange brew indeed!
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Sunday 18 April 2021
The Oscars
This is what happens when money supersedes art.
The problem with the film business is it doesn't realize time has already passed it by, that the paradigm it claims to operate under has expired.
This is a business story. Smart business people get ahead of the audience. That's the wisdom of Spotify...give people what they don't even understand and then drive them to it, converting them and making them smile along the way. Believe me, the audience loves music streaming, subscriber numbers keep going up as do the revenues of the rights holders.
Not that music is the correct paradigm when it comes to art.
The goal in music is to become a brand. To sell, sell, sell, as if tomorrow never comes. But it does.
We have a crisis of credibility in this country. And it starts at the top and goes all the way down. Yes, the elected officials lie, to the point where no one believes anybody, and then the hoi polloi follow in their wake.
In the late sixties and seventies you went to the movies to find out what was happening. The same way you listened to the radio. Both of those models expired. "Jaws" and "Star Wars" killed the movie business. It became about opportunity cost. Why bother making a ten million dollar flick that might gross thirty million when you could invest a hundred million and make a billion! They've got a machine, and it's not built for bunts, but home runs. And that became the film busines, home runs.
Not that the filmmakers themselves wanted to admit this. Which is why every year films are nominated that few have seen. They don't want to admit they're purveying mindless crap. Furthermore, a lot of what is labeled great is not. Have you seen "Mank"? Good look, not much there. But with enough publicity and advertising Netflix has swayed the minds of the ancient Academy members, who don't want to be unique, they're the ultimate herd animals, Harvey Weinstein started this paradigm, and look where it took him.
As for "musicians"... Told by their more experienced handlers that selling out has no negative effects, they do this constantly. Never mind the sponsorships, the products, even music related merch is way over the top. One act has put out seventeen versions of the same album!
"Superfans' Message to Taylor Swift, BTS and Other Music Superstars" Enough With the Deluxe Albums and Pricey Merch": https://on.wsj.com/3dtiTIE
But no one can say no in today's marketplace, if it generates a dollar...LET'S DO IT!
But not the fans in the above article, they've reached their limit, they feel ripped off.
So, the problem with the Oscars is it used to be a celebration of the world's number one art form and those involved in the making thereof. First and foremost, movies are far from the world's number one art form today. At best it's television, but really it's about individuals online, from YouTube to TikTok to Instagram.... I know, I know, if you're over fifty you pooh-pooh these platforms, but that just demonstrates you're out of the loop!
You see the ethos of creations online are about identity first, money second. Come on, those cosmetic queens raking in all the bucks? It's their personality that drives their success. Same deal with all of the successful "influencers"...they're selling themselves, and what you see is what you get. Sure, there are people falsely burnishing their images, but the audience is aware of this, and they are negatively impacted by this. But all this is to say that we used to look up to actors, now we don't at all. They play a role. When they go online...they're two-dimensional, oftentimes out of touch, no one cares what they've got to say, they're empty vessels. As for what they wear? They're mannequins for designers!
If you looked at the news today, you were flooded with stories about the expectation of horribly low Oscar ratings. And that's the truth, but no one inside seems to address why. Never mind changing. Not to mention that when you put the political cart in front of the horse, you lose people's attention. Should there be more people of color involved in filmmaking? Of course, but when that story supersedes the films themselves the audience shrugs and moves on. One could also chastise the Academy for not taking preemptive action, but that's the issue here to begin with...how do you give out awards and have people care?
One thing about movies...they're a lousy viewing experience. I know, I know, you love the movies, but today...visual entertainment is all about long form story, that's what resonates. In a world of hit and run, with too much incoming, people want to dig deep. A film is ninety minutes or two hours, that's just not long enough. It's one date, when the audience is looking for a relationship. And the studios know this, they're all making TV series, but the Academy and its members? They're completely blind, operating under the specious axiom that today's generation has a short attention span. No, they've just got an incredible shit detector! This is what on demand culture delivers, if you don't like it, you don't have to experience it. As for telling someone they need to invest the time, they don't trust a single purveyor, they wait to hear it from their friends. And the purveyors don't even understand word of mouth, dripping out TV episodes week by week. Give the film business credit for realizing this is a flawed method of distribution. The movie business used to platform their flicks, rolling them out over time. Now they dump thousands of prints the first weekend, hoping to get the audience caught up in the excitement before it moves on. A month later? Almost no flick generates that kind of interest/heat. You only get one bite at the apple these days, make it a big one, open your mouth wide and take a chunk.
So if we go back to the Oscars, and why the ratings will tank...
Everyone hates commercials.
If anything worth seeing happens you'll find out later online and watch it online.
The show experience sucks. Three plus half hours wasting your time.
Of course there are solutions to all these problems, they just don't come with a big advance check from NBC.
YouTube could sponsor Best Picture. Yup, make it a fifteen minute show, which will play forever online and continue to generate revenue.
Not only do you use the modern methods online, you create new ones...but instead we see the same damn television show every year. Come on, is anybody gonna really sit through the songs without switching the channel? At this point they're almost never hits.
And the Oscars is a club that the public can't join, and that means people reject it. You've got to make people feel like they belong today, that they own it, or they're out.
As for the non-comic book movies, the foreign jobs, the indies, only boomers go to see them, they're the only ones who remember when films meant something, when they said something, when they pushed the envelope. Youngsters don't even have this habit! Never mind the price is insane. Come on, ten to fifteen dollars for one good song on a CD... As soon as the public got a chance to just get the one they wanted, albums crashed, whether it be via Napster, iTunes or Spotify. Fifteen bucks for a movie? It'd better be an extravaganza, otherwise it's seen as a rip-off.
So Hollywood sells extravaganzas and wants us to focus on the small pictures... Huh?
And it's true, younger generations will go to see the extravaganzas in theatres, it's a tribal rite, with their friends, away from their parents. As for the parents... I haven't had one person tell me they saw a movie in a theatre that I must see in YEARS! Most boomers don't go to the movie theatre at all. So why would you expect them to tune into the Oscar telecast?
Yes, it's positively stunning that twenty years after Napster, the Academy still believes nothing has changed. Same damn categories, same damn three plus hour show. The only people who consume that way are the boomers who haven't seen the movies to begin with, so they don't really care, as for the youngsters? They never cared, never mind there being a new awards show every two weeks with none of the trophies having gravitas.
Yes, that's the irony, we tell everybody that it's all about money, but one night a year we're supposed to believe it's about art. Once again, HUH? That's kind of like telling Democrats to trust Trump on one specific night, that he's gonna tone down the rhetoric and speak truth...THEY'D NEVER BELIEVE IT!
As for the canard that people are tuning out because of politics... Don't cower to the misinformation. This is what they want, for you to be quiet and stay out of the fray. Didn't hurt ratings when Marlon Brando did it, nor Michael Moore, why should it now? Then again, those two were seen as thinkers... Today's winners? Not so much. As evidenced by the classic Gal Gadot "Imagine" video... If you fly private and live behind a gate and are busy being fabulous hanging at bars and restaurants and vacationing on islands how in the hell would you know what resonates with the public at large...YOU DON'T!
So, of course you can appeal to hedonism, whiz-bang, which is what superhero movies are. But there's no hedonism in the Oscar telecast. And all these smiling faces have been revealed to be heinous under the skin, whether it be Ellen DeGeneres or Scott Rudin. Yes, scratch someone in Hollywood and you'll find out they're a phony.
If you want hearts and minds, a great film by the way, today you must be honest and credible and erudite. You need a college degree to get a job as a receptionist, as for the high school dropouts in flicks, why should we respect them? And inherently, actors fall to the bottom, because they're playing a role. Hell, look at Dave Chappelle...he's always talking as himself tackling the big issues, it's a far cry from Alan King.
Biden wakes up and the Academy is asleep?
Biden learned that the Republicans don't want to negotiate, that bipartisanship is a joke. So, he legislates without them and the public loves the results! Don't talk to me about the next election, it takes a long time to turn the ship around, but that does not mean you shouldn't start. The usual suspect generals tell Biden we must stay in Afghanistan, but he says no. Biden is not in a bubble, he sees the story from the outside.
Not that Joe is perfect, but he wasn't my candidate and now I love him, makes me wonder if Warren or Sanders could have even made this much headway. You start by leading, as opposed to bitching that your cheese has been moved. Everything is up for grabs, and if it's not, you're gonna be history.
The Oscars are like tech. What you did yesterday doesn't count, it's all about today. As for the king of tech, Steve Jobs, he was famous for being ahead of the curve.. Scrapping everything but USB ports...and Apple got rid of the iPhone headphone jack a couple of years back. The oldsters bitched! But everybody adjusted, because the truth is Bluetooth rules. Come on, the same people who complained about the lack of a headphone jack are the same ones who now rush to buy the latest iteration of AirPods. As for Apple's competitors, they all jettisoned the headphone jack too!
But where is the Academy and its Oscars leading? I can't think of one damn avenue. As for reinventing the show, like Ben Winston did with the Grammys, the problem isn't so much what is on screen, but the whole enterprise!
Come on, do you think most people want to watch these self-congratulatory mercenary wanker "musicians"? It's not the sixties, most people have never even heard their music. As for the noise from their stans... IGNORE IT! That's the modern paradigm, if people are hating on you you're doing it right, they've got so much other stuff to hate, and if you can't take the slings and arrows, get out of the job. Meanwhile, actors keep crossing the line and then apologizing and going to rehab. Where in the real world does that work, where the average citizen can't even afford rehab! And it seems there's rehab for everything these days, do dogs and cats go to Betty Ford for a month if they poo inside? It's laughable, no one believes it. And Hollywood is so busy crying foul on each other that the game is more interesting than the movies, it's hysterical how blind the talent is. Musicians know that everybody has a camera, so they curb their behavior on the road, they don't act like they did in the pre-internet era. But somehow Hollywood thinks it's immune? Talk about being in a bubble!
So there's a lot to complain about.
But here we're looking for solutions. Gradual change is out the window, especially when you're decades behind. The Grammys hire a woman and then bitch she moved too fast. Tell that to a woman in regular life, the blowback will leave you scorched. Finally women have someone to identify with in the Grammy game, and they disrespect and fire her, and make up bogus offenses to bolster their case, not much different from telling a woman she deserves to be raped because of the clothes she wears, or that it's her word versus her boss's, and therefore the boss stays.
Entertainment used to be a leader, now it's a follower. Come on, not only did the record companies miss Napster, the movie studios missed Netflix! They didn't create it, and then made so much money licensing to the outfit that they built it into a juggernaut. Then again, no one in Hollywood is an owner anymore, they're just short-termers looking to make their bonus. That's a recipe for disaster. Which is what we have!
There are only twenty four hours in a day, and we're all overloaded with stimulation choices. You must prove your worth, and then earn it every damn day.
And you don't earn it in the newspaper. Come on, who doesn't laugh at all those full page ads in the New York and Los Angeles "Times" at this time of year? What a waste of money. It's a circle jerk, and we know!
For far too long those in entertainment have been overpaid for the amount of capital they generate, have been self-anointed stars, and then the curtain was lifted and everybody saw the truth yet these emperors believe they're still wearing clothes.
They're not!
The problem with the film business is it doesn't realize time has already passed it by, that the paradigm it claims to operate under has expired.
This is a business story. Smart business people get ahead of the audience. That's the wisdom of Spotify...give people what they don't even understand and then drive them to it, converting them and making them smile along the way. Believe me, the audience loves music streaming, subscriber numbers keep going up as do the revenues of the rights holders.
Not that music is the correct paradigm when it comes to art.
The goal in music is to become a brand. To sell, sell, sell, as if tomorrow never comes. But it does.
We have a crisis of credibility in this country. And it starts at the top and goes all the way down. Yes, the elected officials lie, to the point where no one believes anybody, and then the hoi polloi follow in their wake.
In the late sixties and seventies you went to the movies to find out what was happening. The same way you listened to the radio. Both of those models expired. "Jaws" and "Star Wars" killed the movie business. It became about opportunity cost. Why bother making a ten million dollar flick that might gross thirty million when you could invest a hundred million and make a billion! They've got a machine, and it's not built for bunts, but home runs. And that became the film busines, home runs.
Not that the filmmakers themselves wanted to admit this. Which is why every year films are nominated that few have seen. They don't want to admit they're purveying mindless crap. Furthermore, a lot of what is labeled great is not. Have you seen "Mank"? Good look, not much there. But with enough publicity and advertising Netflix has swayed the minds of the ancient Academy members, who don't want to be unique, they're the ultimate herd animals, Harvey Weinstein started this paradigm, and look where it took him.
As for "musicians"... Told by their more experienced handlers that selling out has no negative effects, they do this constantly. Never mind the sponsorships, the products, even music related merch is way over the top. One act has put out seventeen versions of the same album!
"Superfans' Message to Taylor Swift, BTS and Other Music Superstars" Enough With the Deluxe Albums and Pricey Merch": https://on.wsj.com/3dtiTIE
But no one can say no in today's marketplace, if it generates a dollar...LET'S DO IT!
But not the fans in the above article, they've reached their limit, they feel ripped off.
So, the problem with the Oscars is it used to be a celebration of the world's number one art form and those involved in the making thereof. First and foremost, movies are far from the world's number one art form today. At best it's television, but really it's about individuals online, from YouTube to TikTok to Instagram.... I know, I know, if you're over fifty you pooh-pooh these platforms, but that just demonstrates you're out of the loop!
You see the ethos of creations online are about identity first, money second. Come on, those cosmetic queens raking in all the bucks? It's their personality that drives their success. Same deal with all of the successful "influencers"...they're selling themselves, and what you see is what you get. Sure, there are people falsely burnishing their images, but the audience is aware of this, and they are negatively impacted by this. But all this is to say that we used to look up to actors, now we don't at all. They play a role. When they go online...they're two-dimensional, oftentimes out of touch, no one cares what they've got to say, they're empty vessels. As for what they wear? They're mannequins for designers!
If you looked at the news today, you were flooded with stories about the expectation of horribly low Oscar ratings. And that's the truth, but no one inside seems to address why. Never mind changing. Not to mention that when you put the political cart in front of the horse, you lose people's attention. Should there be more people of color involved in filmmaking? Of course, but when that story supersedes the films themselves the audience shrugs and moves on. One could also chastise the Academy for not taking preemptive action, but that's the issue here to begin with...how do you give out awards and have people care?
One thing about movies...they're a lousy viewing experience. I know, I know, you love the movies, but today...visual entertainment is all about long form story, that's what resonates. In a world of hit and run, with too much incoming, people want to dig deep. A film is ninety minutes or two hours, that's just not long enough. It's one date, when the audience is looking for a relationship. And the studios know this, they're all making TV series, but the Academy and its members? They're completely blind, operating under the specious axiom that today's generation has a short attention span. No, they've just got an incredible shit detector! This is what on demand culture delivers, if you don't like it, you don't have to experience it. As for telling someone they need to invest the time, they don't trust a single purveyor, they wait to hear it from their friends. And the purveyors don't even understand word of mouth, dripping out TV episodes week by week. Give the film business credit for realizing this is a flawed method of distribution. The movie business used to platform their flicks, rolling them out over time. Now they dump thousands of prints the first weekend, hoping to get the audience caught up in the excitement before it moves on. A month later? Almost no flick generates that kind of interest/heat. You only get one bite at the apple these days, make it a big one, open your mouth wide and take a chunk.
So if we go back to the Oscars, and why the ratings will tank...
Everyone hates commercials.
If anything worth seeing happens you'll find out later online and watch it online.
The show experience sucks. Three plus half hours wasting your time.
Of course there are solutions to all these problems, they just don't come with a big advance check from NBC.
YouTube could sponsor Best Picture. Yup, make it a fifteen minute show, which will play forever online and continue to generate revenue.
Not only do you use the modern methods online, you create new ones...but instead we see the same damn television show every year. Come on, is anybody gonna really sit through the songs without switching the channel? At this point they're almost never hits.
And the Oscars is a club that the public can't join, and that means people reject it. You've got to make people feel like they belong today, that they own it, or they're out.
As for the non-comic book movies, the foreign jobs, the indies, only boomers go to see them, they're the only ones who remember when films meant something, when they said something, when they pushed the envelope. Youngsters don't even have this habit! Never mind the price is insane. Come on, ten to fifteen dollars for one good song on a CD... As soon as the public got a chance to just get the one they wanted, albums crashed, whether it be via Napster, iTunes or Spotify. Fifteen bucks for a movie? It'd better be an extravaganza, otherwise it's seen as a rip-off.
So Hollywood sells extravaganzas and wants us to focus on the small pictures... Huh?
And it's true, younger generations will go to see the extravaganzas in theatres, it's a tribal rite, with their friends, away from their parents. As for the parents... I haven't had one person tell me they saw a movie in a theatre that I must see in YEARS! Most boomers don't go to the movie theatre at all. So why would you expect them to tune into the Oscar telecast?
Yes, it's positively stunning that twenty years after Napster, the Academy still believes nothing has changed. Same damn categories, same damn three plus hour show. The only people who consume that way are the boomers who haven't seen the movies to begin with, so they don't really care, as for the youngsters? They never cared, never mind there being a new awards show every two weeks with none of the trophies having gravitas.
Yes, that's the irony, we tell everybody that it's all about money, but one night a year we're supposed to believe it's about art. Once again, HUH? That's kind of like telling Democrats to trust Trump on one specific night, that he's gonna tone down the rhetoric and speak truth...THEY'D NEVER BELIEVE IT!
As for the canard that people are tuning out because of politics... Don't cower to the misinformation. This is what they want, for you to be quiet and stay out of the fray. Didn't hurt ratings when Marlon Brando did it, nor Michael Moore, why should it now? Then again, those two were seen as thinkers... Today's winners? Not so much. As evidenced by the classic Gal Gadot "Imagine" video... If you fly private and live behind a gate and are busy being fabulous hanging at bars and restaurants and vacationing on islands how in the hell would you know what resonates with the public at large...YOU DON'T!
So, of course you can appeal to hedonism, whiz-bang, which is what superhero movies are. But there's no hedonism in the Oscar telecast. And all these smiling faces have been revealed to be heinous under the skin, whether it be Ellen DeGeneres or Scott Rudin. Yes, scratch someone in Hollywood and you'll find out they're a phony.
If you want hearts and minds, a great film by the way, today you must be honest and credible and erudite. You need a college degree to get a job as a receptionist, as for the high school dropouts in flicks, why should we respect them? And inherently, actors fall to the bottom, because they're playing a role. Hell, look at Dave Chappelle...he's always talking as himself tackling the big issues, it's a far cry from Alan King.
Biden wakes up and the Academy is asleep?
Biden learned that the Republicans don't want to negotiate, that bipartisanship is a joke. So, he legislates without them and the public loves the results! Don't talk to me about the next election, it takes a long time to turn the ship around, but that does not mean you shouldn't start. The usual suspect generals tell Biden we must stay in Afghanistan, but he says no. Biden is not in a bubble, he sees the story from the outside.
Not that Joe is perfect, but he wasn't my candidate and now I love him, makes me wonder if Warren or Sanders could have even made this much headway. You start by leading, as opposed to bitching that your cheese has been moved. Everything is up for grabs, and if it's not, you're gonna be history.
The Oscars are like tech. What you did yesterday doesn't count, it's all about today. As for the king of tech, Steve Jobs, he was famous for being ahead of the curve.. Scrapping everything but USB ports...and Apple got rid of the iPhone headphone jack a couple of years back. The oldsters bitched! But everybody adjusted, because the truth is Bluetooth rules. Come on, the same people who complained about the lack of a headphone jack are the same ones who now rush to buy the latest iteration of AirPods. As for Apple's competitors, they all jettisoned the headphone jack too!
But where is the Academy and its Oscars leading? I can't think of one damn avenue. As for reinventing the show, like Ben Winston did with the Grammys, the problem isn't so much what is on screen, but the whole enterprise!
Come on, do you think most people want to watch these self-congratulatory mercenary wanker "musicians"? It's not the sixties, most people have never even heard their music. As for the noise from their stans... IGNORE IT! That's the modern paradigm, if people are hating on you you're doing it right, they've got so much other stuff to hate, and if you can't take the slings and arrows, get out of the job. Meanwhile, actors keep crossing the line and then apologizing and going to rehab. Where in the real world does that work, where the average citizen can't even afford rehab! And it seems there's rehab for everything these days, do dogs and cats go to Betty Ford for a month if they poo inside? It's laughable, no one believes it. And Hollywood is so busy crying foul on each other that the game is more interesting than the movies, it's hysterical how blind the talent is. Musicians know that everybody has a camera, so they curb their behavior on the road, they don't act like they did in the pre-internet era. But somehow Hollywood thinks it's immune? Talk about being in a bubble!
So there's a lot to complain about.
But here we're looking for solutions. Gradual change is out the window, especially when you're decades behind. The Grammys hire a woman and then bitch she moved too fast. Tell that to a woman in regular life, the blowback will leave you scorched. Finally women have someone to identify with in the Grammy game, and they disrespect and fire her, and make up bogus offenses to bolster their case, not much different from telling a woman she deserves to be raped because of the clothes she wears, or that it's her word versus her boss's, and therefore the boss stays.
Entertainment used to be a leader, now it's a follower. Come on, not only did the record companies miss Napster, the movie studios missed Netflix! They didn't create it, and then made so much money licensing to the outfit that they built it into a juggernaut. Then again, no one in Hollywood is an owner anymore, they're just short-termers looking to make their bonus. That's a recipe for disaster. Which is what we have!
There are only twenty four hours in a day, and we're all overloaded with stimulation choices. You must prove your worth, and then earn it every damn day.
And you don't earn it in the newspaper. Come on, who doesn't laugh at all those full page ads in the New York and Los Angeles "Times" at this time of year? What a waste of money. It's a circle jerk, and we know!
For far too long those in entertainment have been overpaid for the amount of capital they generate, have been self-anointed stars, and then the curtain was lifted and everybody saw the truth yet these emperors believe they're still wearing clothes.
They're not!
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