Tune in Saturday August 5th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Friday 4 August 2023
The Ladder
1. HONE YOUR ACT
You need to practice off the grid, offline. This advice is for pros, not amateurs. If you're just screwing around, post on YouTube and TikTok, have fun, but if you want to make music your career... People tend to know this at a young age. And if you're one of these people you don't want to try and build an audience online until you are ready. Maybe post, but don't try and draw attention, don't dun people to watch, this will ultimately backfire, because people are overloaded and hate to be told to take time out for you and if they do and you're substandard, it's much harder to get them to come back.
So, learn how to play in your bedroom. Practice with your buddies in the garage. Play live anywhere that will have you. Put money last. It's about the experience, not the cash. If you put money first you're doing it wrong. The key is to learn how to do it, and this is a skill. To get over the stage fright, to perform adequately, to handle the audience, to build the arc of a show. This is a skill most of the overnight wonders do not have. Which is why their live shows, assuming they can play to anybody, that anybody wants to pay to see them, have to be stacked with ringers and production, it's to cover up their greenness. You want to be ready when you get your break.
You must sacrifice. You can't be on the team or be in clubs or go to the prom. You may be able to do all of these, but there will be times you have to choose, and you'll have to choose music. Think of it like the swimmers and other athletes gunning for the Olympics, they cannot take their eye off the ball.
You're going to have to start with covers. The classics are key here. Everybody knows "You Shook Me All Night Long." Yes, the rock classics, the classics of the MTV era, they are the last universal songs. Sure, maybe know some contemporary songs, but only play them for audiences you think will know them.
Write. From day one. You get better over time, so you might as well start early. Anybody who tells you their initial songs are great is wrong. Writing is an adventure, you have to learn the basics and then how to express yourself.
Start playing some originals live. See what works.
Ultimately get enough gigs that you are making money. Such that someone who works on a percentage will be interested in working with you.
2. THE AGENT
More important than a manager at this point. Gigs are the issue, not direction. You don't need a manager to negotiate deals, your path, because there is none. But you do need someone to get you work. An agent works on percentage, they will only work with you if they think they can make money, not only today, but tomorrow. If you want an agent to work with you don't tell them how good you are, but how you can make them money.
3. GIG
Anywhere and everywhere, to bigger audiences. Even with an agent it pays to know the other acts, so you can trade headlining gigs in each other's territory.
4. FAN BASE
If you've gotten this far, you will have fans. Know them, pay attention to them, serve them. They want to serve you. Give them access. Incentivize them to bring their friends, i.e. let them bring their friends free or at a discount, let their friends meet you. It's about establishing a relationship. In this broad world everybody wants an identity and in many cases this is their adherence to an act.
5. ONLINE
Now is the time. You can have a website, have information online earlier, but as far as videos, now you are ready. Post on YouTube and TikTok. Your fans need to spread the word. Make them aware the videos are there, don't dun them to spread the word, either they will or they won't, if you're good enough and the bond is strong enough, they will.
TikTok... Should you try and game the system? Do covers? Have innovative videos? Well, OK Go was famous for its innovative videos but no one can sing a song of theirs. Once you try and manipulate the system you're going down a bad path. The music must be the draw, not the penumbra.
6. MANAGER
This is the time you need one. You'll probably have one earlier, but probably one you'll ultimately want to fire if you become successful. Because only a passionate nobody will be interested at first and ultimately you need someone with experience. Having said that, oldster managers tend not to know the new, digital landscape and the audience of young people. They're all inured to radio and Spotify, they think big and miss the low-hanging fruit.
When you get big enough, you'll need a real manager. And a real manager will come to you because you're making money and they see an upside, they think they can add value, make you bigger.
If you get a manager earlier, do not sign a contract with them, no way, odds are it will come back to haunt you. Pay them their percentage, but ultimately you will probably want to fire them, and you don't want to have to continue to pay them.
7. GIG MORE
The key is to be big enough that you can get slots at festivals. So more people can see you. The key is not to be able to say you were on the festival, but to kill at the festival. People know if you're great, if you've got something, and they never forget. I saw Hooray for the Riff Raff at the Rose Bowl/Arroyo Seco playing in a tent with fewer than a hundred people and they slayed me, I've paid attention to them ever since. This is what you're looking for.
Make merch when it's not a hobby, when someone likes your show so much they need a souvenir. Handmade stuff for the hard core only is a bad look.
8. OPPORTUNITIES
If you've jumped the above hurdles, you will start to have opportunities. This is why you need a manager, to negotiate, to handle these opportunities. The smaller you are, the more you say yes, the less you weigh the pros and cons. It's just the reverse when you get bigger.
9. RECORD DEAL
You probably won't need one. It's no longer the badge of honor it once was. Only sign a deal with a major if it signs, promotes and makes hits in the genre you operate in, otherwise you're giving up too much for too little. Sure, you might be so successful that the advance is huge and the recordings revert to you in a short period of time, but this is rare.
You need to do it yourself. You need to do everything yourself. At first keep your day job. If you or your friends and family can't finance your operation you're doing it wrong. Don't borrow money from a bank or anyone who charges interest, don't even borrow money from someone who expects to get it back. This is a long shot venture and you don't want to be beholden to anybody. If you can't make it work financially from the get-go, you're doing it wrong, you just don't want it bad enough.
When it comes to recordings... Sans hits, which are rare, recordings generate little income, why not take the lion's share? Which you can do if you own and distribute yourself, via a third party like CD Baby, TuneCore, etc. Don't be enticed to sign with an indie label. What the indie label says it will do it rarely does. The indie doesn't have much cash, doesn't want to spend it and doesn't have enough personnel and wherewithal to hammer something again and again. Meanwhile, the indie will take most of the money that comes in and may even own the copyright.
Today's markers of success are not the ones of the past. Record deals? You're better off with a sold out gig.
10. DUES
You're always paying them. Through your whole career. And now, if you get off the hamster wheel, you're quickly forgotten. You've got to stay in the game, delivering all the while, making the most of new opportunities.
You can try and flush out new opportunities, but this is like writing and producing movies, they rarely come to fruition. This is the job of the manager, let the manager dedicate their time to this.
11. CAREER
This is the ultimate goal. To not have to work a day job and be able to continue to play music until you die. If you're in it to become a brand and to extend that brand into other areas, there are much easier ways to do this than music. Some don't even require any talent, nor do they require a whole hell of a lot of dues. Look at the Kardashians, look at the influencers. And even actors. Music is the hardest way to make it. And people know this and treasure music in a way they do not treasure the purveyors of other art forms. The key is to touch people's souls, and if you do this you're on your way, and ultimately there will be enough money to provide. And you may not be a billionaire, but you have more sway over your audience than the billionaires. That's the power of music. Focus on the music, that's where your strength lies.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
You need to practice off the grid, offline. This advice is for pros, not amateurs. If you're just screwing around, post on YouTube and TikTok, have fun, but if you want to make music your career... People tend to know this at a young age. And if you're one of these people you don't want to try and build an audience online until you are ready. Maybe post, but don't try and draw attention, don't dun people to watch, this will ultimately backfire, because people are overloaded and hate to be told to take time out for you and if they do and you're substandard, it's much harder to get them to come back.
So, learn how to play in your bedroom. Practice with your buddies in the garage. Play live anywhere that will have you. Put money last. It's about the experience, not the cash. If you put money first you're doing it wrong. The key is to learn how to do it, and this is a skill. To get over the stage fright, to perform adequately, to handle the audience, to build the arc of a show. This is a skill most of the overnight wonders do not have. Which is why their live shows, assuming they can play to anybody, that anybody wants to pay to see them, have to be stacked with ringers and production, it's to cover up their greenness. You want to be ready when you get your break.
You must sacrifice. You can't be on the team or be in clubs or go to the prom. You may be able to do all of these, but there will be times you have to choose, and you'll have to choose music. Think of it like the swimmers and other athletes gunning for the Olympics, they cannot take their eye off the ball.
You're going to have to start with covers. The classics are key here. Everybody knows "You Shook Me All Night Long." Yes, the rock classics, the classics of the MTV era, they are the last universal songs. Sure, maybe know some contemporary songs, but only play them for audiences you think will know them.
Write. From day one. You get better over time, so you might as well start early. Anybody who tells you their initial songs are great is wrong. Writing is an adventure, you have to learn the basics and then how to express yourself.
Start playing some originals live. See what works.
Ultimately get enough gigs that you are making money. Such that someone who works on a percentage will be interested in working with you.
2. THE AGENT
More important than a manager at this point. Gigs are the issue, not direction. You don't need a manager to negotiate deals, your path, because there is none. But you do need someone to get you work. An agent works on percentage, they will only work with you if they think they can make money, not only today, but tomorrow. If you want an agent to work with you don't tell them how good you are, but how you can make them money.
3. GIG
Anywhere and everywhere, to bigger audiences. Even with an agent it pays to know the other acts, so you can trade headlining gigs in each other's territory.
4. FAN BASE
If you've gotten this far, you will have fans. Know them, pay attention to them, serve them. They want to serve you. Give them access. Incentivize them to bring their friends, i.e. let them bring their friends free or at a discount, let their friends meet you. It's about establishing a relationship. In this broad world everybody wants an identity and in many cases this is their adherence to an act.
5. ONLINE
Now is the time. You can have a website, have information online earlier, but as far as videos, now you are ready. Post on YouTube and TikTok. Your fans need to spread the word. Make them aware the videos are there, don't dun them to spread the word, either they will or they won't, if you're good enough and the bond is strong enough, they will.
TikTok... Should you try and game the system? Do covers? Have innovative videos? Well, OK Go was famous for its innovative videos but no one can sing a song of theirs. Once you try and manipulate the system you're going down a bad path. The music must be the draw, not the penumbra.
6. MANAGER
This is the time you need one. You'll probably have one earlier, but probably one you'll ultimately want to fire if you become successful. Because only a passionate nobody will be interested at first and ultimately you need someone with experience. Having said that, oldster managers tend not to know the new, digital landscape and the audience of young people. They're all inured to radio and Spotify, they think big and miss the low-hanging fruit.
When you get big enough, you'll need a real manager. And a real manager will come to you because you're making money and they see an upside, they think they can add value, make you bigger.
If you get a manager earlier, do not sign a contract with them, no way, odds are it will come back to haunt you. Pay them their percentage, but ultimately you will probably want to fire them, and you don't want to have to continue to pay them.
7. GIG MORE
The key is to be big enough that you can get slots at festivals. So more people can see you. The key is not to be able to say you were on the festival, but to kill at the festival. People know if you're great, if you've got something, and they never forget. I saw Hooray for the Riff Raff at the Rose Bowl/Arroyo Seco playing in a tent with fewer than a hundred people and they slayed me, I've paid attention to them ever since. This is what you're looking for.
Make merch when it's not a hobby, when someone likes your show so much they need a souvenir. Handmade stuff for the hard core only is a bad look.
8. OPPORTUNITIES
If you've jumped the above hurdles, you will start to have opportunities. This is why you need a manager, to negotiate, to handle these opportunities. The smaller you are, the more you say yes, the less you weigh the pros and cons. It's just the reverse when you get bigger.
9. RECORD DEAL
You probably won't need one. It's no longer the badge of honor it once was. Only sign a deal with a major if it signs, promotes and makes hits in the genre you operate in, otherwise you're giving up too much for too little. Sure, you might be so successful that the advance is huge and the recordings revert to you in a short period of time, but this is rare.
You need to do it yourself. You need to do everything yourself. At first keep your day job. If you or your friends and family can't finance your operation you're doing it wrong. Don't borrow money from a bank or anyone who charges interest, don't even borrow money from someone who expects to get it back. This is a long shot venture and you don't want to be beholden to anybody. If you can't make it work financially from the get-go, you're doing it wrong, you just don't want it bad enough.
When it comes to recordings... Sans hits, which are rare, recordings generate little income, why not take the lion's share? Which you can do if you own and distribute yourself, via a third party like CD Baby, TuneCore, etc. Don't be enticed to sign with an indie label. What the indie label says it will do it rarely does. The indie doesn't have much cash, doesn't want to spend it and doesn't have enough personnel and wherewithal to hammer something again and again. Meanwhile, the indie will take most of the money that comes in and may even own the copyright.
Today's markers of success are not the ones of the past. Record deals? You're better off with a sold out gig.
10. DUES
You're always paying them. Through your whole career. And now, if you get off the hamster wheel, you're quickly forgotten. You've got to stay in the game, delivering all the while, making the most of new opportunities.
You can try and flush out new opportunities, but this is like writing and producing movies, they rarely come to fruition. This is the job of the manager, let the manager dedicate their time to this.
11. CAREER
This is the ultimate goal. To not have to work a day job and be able to continue to play music until you die. If you're in it to become a brand and to extend that brand into other areas, there are much easier ways to do this than music. Some don't even require any talent, nor do they require a whole hell of a lot of dues. Look at the Kardashians, look at the influencers. And even actors. Music is the hardest way to make it. And people know this and treasure music in a way they do not treasure the purveyors of other art forms. The key is to touch people's souls, and if you do this you're on your way, and ultimately there will be enough money to provide. And you may not be a billionaire, but you have more sway over your audience than the billionaires. That's the power of music. Focus on the music, that's where your strength lies.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Thursday 3 August 2023
Play Live
That's the only way to really establish a career today.
The TikTok paradigm...that's a long shot. And even the singles the majors push up the charts don't draw an audience live. The key is to cement your bond with fans on stage. And that goes against everything we've been told for the last twenty years.
Don't talk to me about streaming royalties. That's missing the point. If there's any money to be made in recordings today, it comes last. Of course there are unicorns, tracks that speed up the Spotify Top 50 and end up with a billion streams, but you'd be surprised how many of those acts can't follow it up, never mind draw anybody to a show.
So...
Learn how to play.
I know, that sounds like anathema. You've been told for twenty years to hone your marketing chops. Participate online. Sell yourself. But now there's just too much in the pipeline, and too much is phony. By demonstrating you can play your instrument, you instantly put yourself above the rest. (And an instrument can be a record, EDM/electronic music still draws many fans live, despite not dominating the hit parade.)
However, being able to play is not enough, you need to know how to write.
Yes, we're back in the early sixties, the Beatles paradigm.
There was no Beatles before the Beatles. No world domination, no changing the culture around the world. And to establish themselves the Beatles played live, ad infinitum, and then wrote. First simply, and then more creatively.
Also, I don't want to hear any 10,000 hours hogwash. If you're busy adding up your hours, trying to quantify your experience, you're missing the point. Yes, it is about paying dues, mostly when no one is paying attention, but if you study the science of the 10,000 hours paradigm, you'll learn that it's 10,000 hours of HARD PRACTICE! Which means sitting alone in your room with your guitar. Or playing gigs for no pay to nobody. Now, more than ever, if you're not in it for the long haul, you're not really in it at all.
Doesn't matter how you look. Your age doesn't even matter. It's how good you give live. Do people pay attention, do they stop talking, do they dance? The goal is to infect people so they tell others, so your attendance goes up. This is where the rubber meets the road. If you're doing the same damn thing over and over and you're not building an audience, the problem is you. No one wants to hear that, everybody believes they deserve success. But either you're not talented enough, not working hard enough, or barking up the wrong tree. If you're in it forever and you're not making it, you need to change. The type of music you're making or... Or, you can not change at all and continue to be obscure, but you must own that and be happy with that.
So if you play live...
When you're starting out no one wants to see you dance, no one wants to see production, they don't expect it. The music is everything. Sure, Lou Pearlman broke the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC doing just the opposite, but that was twenty five years ago. And Pearlman put his boys with the best songwriters. If you're nowhere, you're not going to get to work with Max Martin. You've got to become Max Martin. Talk about paying your dues... This guy labored in obscurity in Sweden for years. But also Max has evolved with the times, ensuring his own longevity.
So, you've got to learn how to write.
Now it's easier to be a rapper. But the problem is even if you have a hit, you probably don't have a career, you can't draw an audience continuously, if at all. Used to be different, the culture would support you. But now hip-hop culture has fractured and its market share is declining. Meaning, there is room for the absolute best rappers, but other than that...have fun, but don't quit your day job.
So you've got to learn how to play. Go to the School of Rock. Hone your chops. And then write.
Writing is easy. Focus on the classic hits of yore. To the songs, not the records. A great song doesn't need an arrangement, doesn't need extra instruments, doesn't even need a great voice, it stands on its own. Use the Beatles formula, with choruses and bridges... One chord pop hits don't work live.
So you've got to form a band. Of course you can start solo, but live a band works better. But no one has been been forming bands because there's not enough money in it, everybody wants to be a solo artist, the days of vying for world domination a la U2 are long in the rearview mirror.
So you can't be in it to live the private jet lifestyle, that's nearly impossible. Not only must you play live, you must love to play live. You must love the long hours, the travel, the drink and the hang. That's the essence of music today, people want to feel the grittiness, the humanity, and it's your job to deliver it.
Forget Pink and the rest of those touring with big productions to large audiences. They broke in a different era. People saw the videos and they will pay to see the videos performed live. Then again, if your show is static, if it's the same every night, the odds of people coming back are low. You've got to produce, you've got to shake it up, you've got to evolve.
In other words, everything you've been told for forty years, since the advent of MTV, is wrong. It's been about aligning with money, the major label, for the push. But the dirty little secret is even the major labels can't break a star these days. Furthermore, the audience is sensitive to the push, the hype. Once they think something is being foisted upon them, they're out. They want honesty and credibility in a world that has little, that's the job of a musician.
You don't want to hear this. Nobody wants to hear this. Not only are the odds almost nil that you'll make it, you have to pay your dues for years and you still might not break through.
In other words, you're a musician, not a star. Get that straight. This is a calling, this is the alternative, this is the road less taken. And there are no shortcuts. It's a slog.
But the upside is the public is hungry for honest, credible, soul-fulfilling and catchy music. Catchy means you hear it once and remember it, not that it needs to fit in the aforementioned Spotify Top 50. You are the antidote. To this incomprehensible world.
As for social media, etc...
If you're boasting online, you're doing it wrong. If you're complaining online, you're doing it wrong. You are the other. Sure, make yourself available, but even more establish a community. You want your fans to know each other, to feel like they belong. Superserve your addicts, those are the ones who will break you, not the machine.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
The TikTok paradigm...that's a long shot. And even the singles the majors push up the charts don't draw an audience live. The key is to cement your bond with fans on stage. And that goes against everything we've been told for the last twenty years.
Don't talk to me about streaming royalties. That's missing the point. If there's any money to be made in recordings today, it comes last. Of course there are unicorns, tracks that speed up the Spotify Top 50 and end up with a billion streams, but you'd be surprised how many of those acts can't follow it up, never mind draw anybody to a show.
So...
Learn how to play.
I know, that sounds like anathema. You've been told for twenty years to hone your marketing chops. Participate online. Sell yourself. But now there's just too much in the pipeline, and too much is phony. By demonstrating you can play your instrument, you instantly put yourself above the rest. (And an instrument can be a record, EDM/electronic music still draws many fans live, despite not dominating the hit parade.)
However, being able to play is not enough, you need to know how to write.
Yes, we're back in the early sixties, the Beatles paradigm.
There was no Beatles before the Beatles. No world domination, no changing the culture around the world. And to establish themselves the Beatles played live, ad infinitum, and then wrote. First simply, and then more creatively.
Also, I don't want to hear any 10,000 hours hogwash. If you're busy adding up your hours, trying to quantify your experience, you're missing the point. Yes, it is about paying dues, mostly when no one is paying attention, but if you study the science of the 10,000 hours paradigm, you'll learn that it's 10,000 hours of HARD PRACTICE! Which means sitting alone in your room with your guitar. Or playing gigs for no pay to nobody. Now, more than ever, if you're not in it for the long haul, you're not really in it at all.
Doesn't matter how you look. Your age doesn't even matter. It's how good you give live. Do people pay attention, do they stop talking, do they dance? The goal is to infect people so they tell others, so your attendance goes up. This is where the rubber meets the road. If you're doing the same damn thing over and over and you're not building an audience, the problem is you. No one wants to hear that, everybody believes they deserve success. But either you're not talented enough, not working hard enough, or barking up the wrong tree. If you're in it forever and you're not making it, you need to change. The type of music you're making or... Or, you can not change at all and continue to be obscure, but you must own that and be happy with that.
So if you play live...
When you're starting out no one wants to see you dance, no one wants to see production, they don't expect it. The music is everything. Sure, Lou Pearlman broke the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC doing just the opposite, but that was twenty five years ago. And Pearlman put his boys with the best songwriters. If you're nowhere, you're not going to get to work with Max Martin. You've got to become Max Martin. Talk about paying your dues... This guy labored in obscurity in Sweden for years. But also Max has evolved with the times, ensuring his own longevity.
So, you've got to learn how to write.
Now it's easier to be a rapper. But the problem is even if you have a hit, you probably don't have a career, you can't draw an audience continuously, if at all. Used to be different, the culture would support you. But now hip-hop culture has fractured and its market share is declining. Meaning, there is room for the absolute best rappers, but other than that...have fun, but don't quit your day job.
So you've got to learn how to play. Go to the School of Rock. Hone your chops. And then write.
Writing is easy. Focus on the classic hits of yore. To the songs, not the records. A great song doesn't need an arrangement, doesn't need extra instruments, doesn't even need a great voice, it stands on its own. Use the Beatles formula, with choruses and bridges... One chord pop hits don't work live.
So you've got to form a band. Of course you can start solo, but live a band works better. But no one has been been forming bands because there's not enough money in it, everybody wants to be a solo artist, the days of vying for world domination a la U2 are long in the rearview mirror.
So you can't be in it to live the private jet lifestyle, that's nearly impossible. Not only must you play live, you must love to play live. You must love the long hours, the travel, the drink and the hang. That's the essence of music today, people want to feel the grittiness, the humanity, and it's your job to deliver it.
Forget Pink and the rest of those touring with big productions to large audiences. They broke in a different era. People saw the videos and they will pay to see the videos performed live. Then again, if your show is static, if it's the same every night, the odds of people coming back are low. You've got to produce, you've got to shake it up, you've got to evolve.
In other words, everything you've been told for forty years, since the advent of MTV, is wrong. It's been about aligning with money, the major label, for the push. But the dirty little secret is even the major labels can't break a star these days. Furthermore, the audience is sensitive to the push, the hype. Once they think something is being foisted upon them, they're out. They want honesty and credibility in a world that has little, that's the job of a musician.
You don't want to hear this. Nobody wants to hear this. Not only are the odds almost nil that you'll make it, you have to pay your dues for years and you still might not break through.
In other words, you're a musician, not a star. Get that straight. This is a calling, this is the alternative, this is the road less taken. And there are no shortcuts. It's a slog.
But the upside is the public is hungry for honest, credible, soul-fulfilling and catchy music. Catchy means you hear it once and remember it, not that it needs to fit in the aforementioned Spotify Top 50. You are the antidote. To this incomprehensible world.
As for social media, etc...
If you're boasting online, you're doing it wrong. If you're complaining online, you're doing it wrong. You are the other. Sure, make yourself available, but even more establish a community. You want your fans to know each other, to feel like they belong. Superserve your addicts, those are the ones who will break you, not the machine.
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Bill Payne-This Week's Podcast
Keyboardist extraordinaire Bill Payne is an original member of Little Feat, and has been a member of the Doobie Brothers and the String Cheese Incident too. Bill has written songs and recorded with a who's who of artists. This is his story.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/bill-payne-120316001/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bill-payne/id1316200737?i=1000623296335
https://open.spotify.com/episode/427IC2nQqd8vey9fjIszvJ?si=mU6hK_B8S66_BIm1nvEDAA
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/98319d16-9a4f-478c-b70f-d104ef825824/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-bill-payne
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/bill-payne-305913228
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--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/bill-payne-120316001/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bill-payne/id1316200737?i=1000623296335
https://open.spotify.com/episode/427IC2nQqd8vey9fjIszvJ?si=mU6hK_B8S66_BIm1nvEDAA
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/98319d16-9a4f-478c-b70f-d104ef825824/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-bill-payne
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/bill-payne-305913228
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Tuesday 1 August 2023
Nothing Lasts
Taylor Swift was terrible on the Grammys. Maybe the worst performance ever. She was way off-key singing with Stevie Nicks, in front of the whole world. I'd been getting e-mail from people for years saying she couldn't sing, but had held back from writing anything. But here was evidence.
I thought it would end her career. Didn't Billy Squier dance around on MTV in a pink shirt and kill his career almost overnight?
But no, I was wrong. Taylor Swift wrote a song about me and she's bigger than ever.
Just like Donald Trump.
One of my favorite tweets of the past week said people have already forgotten that Trump was convicted of sexual assault only a few months back. You remember E. Jean Carroll, don't you?
Now there's a similarity between Swift and Trump. That the believers are true and everybody else doesn't care. This too is a difference from the past. Fan bases are narrower than ever before, and their members are more rabid than ever before. They have the belief that it's them versus the world. That others are out to get them. And they must protect their heroes and themselves at all costs. They must preemptively protect themselves. They're aggressive. And it's not only in politics, everybody feels put upon, with a need to self-aggrandize for fear they'll be marginalized.
In other words, nothing is going to convince Trump supporters to give up. That's not their nature, that's not the modern paradigm.
And Taylor Swift is the biggest and most talented artist in the world, and if you say otherwise... Well, I still get tweets and e-mails from fans, calling me a hater, over a decade since I wrote about that Grammy performance. I know that might sound contradictory, but when it comes to ammunition defenders know no limit. They remember every slight, perceived or real.
So what does this mean for you?
Your past doesn't matter. We keep saying your reputation is everything, your credibility. Not in the big time. Maybe at home, in your little life, in your little circle.
Cardi B throws a mic in the audience in response to an audience member throwing something at her and...
Mainstream media debates behavior. What was going through the mind of the thrower. The person hit by Cardi's mic's injury. But my audience? It can't believe that the music still played, that Cardi B.'s vocal continued, long after she threw her mic away.
That's the story here. She wasn't singing!
But does that make any difference?
Ashlee Simpson's career was killed overnight when she was found to be lip-synching on SNL. Today, do something like that and shrug. No matter what the brouhaha, your fans, your believers, will stick by you. And oftentimes they're the only ones who care, so over time your narrative triumphs.
As for Taylor Swift's voice...
The story this week is how her concert created an earthquake, how there was seismic activity. This was everywhere. But the "New York Times" reported today that this is a regular occurrence in Seattle, the Weeknd caused seismic activity, and so did the Seahawks. But let's not let the truth get in the way of a good story, of myth-building.
And then there's the Weeknd himself, Abel Tesfaye. Responsible for one of the most reviled TV series of the year, "The Idol." Every news outlet had a story about the impact on his career. How this would hurt him, indelibly. But these writers are not students of the game, it won't hurt him at all! I'm not saying he'll hit the height of "Blinding Lights" again, but his chart performance was in decline anyway.
Bruce Springsteen was castigated over ticket prices. Remember the blowback? Well, the dates played and everybody was happy. You could even buy tickets at the last minute for some of the shows. "Backstreets" closed down in protest, the joke is on the magazine, no one cares, it all blew over.
How about that famous band that scalped its own tickets? All over the news a few years back. You don't remember who it was and the fans don't care. Just like the fans of Motley Crue who overpaid to see the final tour, written in blood, and then the band went back on tour again. The believers believe, and everybody else forgets or ignores from the get-go.
This is a phenomenon that is incomprehensible to boomers and Gen-X'ers. It was never that way. If you screwed up on MTV, the whole world was watching. But now the whole world is watching nothing, it's an endless slew of hype, assuming you're paying attention to begin with. Everybody's selling and you're picky about what you're buying.
So it's not that Taylor Swift sings better, or Donald Trump is suddenly honest. It's that the crimes of the past don't matter in the future.
And even those who get caught in the quagmire and are convicted and pay their dues... Used to be they were experienced seers, worth listening to. John Dean has been commenting on TV for decades. Michael Cohen? No one is listening to him anymore. He had his moment and it's over.
Hell, Andrew Cuomo could run for office again. His only problem is that many people didn't like him to begin with, and he didn't have a whole hell of a lot of hard core fans. But as for his faux pas?
Louis CK understands the game, he got back in it. He knows it doesn't matter what you think, only what his fans think. He may be a pariah to you, but his fans are keeping him alive.
The only people still concerned about the Morgan Wallen n-word controversy are those who never listened to his music and never will.
As for Jason Aldean... This is the best thing that has happened to him in over a decade. He's added life to his career.
Then again, Aldean took a side. He wasn't worried about what you think, only about what his fans think. He didn't make the video knowing it was going to become a national controversy, it wasn't planned out, it was just a dog whistle for country bumpkins and gun-lovers, those who feel the denizens of the city, those lefties, must be held at bay, otherwise they'll take their guns, their lifestyle, everything they believe in. Sure, the left may continue to hate Aldean, but it doesn't matter. Aldean knows it's not about appealing to everybody, but just somebody, the passionate.
Remember when network television was all about appealing to everybody? That's a death sentence today. Today you want to be narrow and edgy, and maybe those who love the show will turn their friends on.
So if you screw up... Stay silent. If you don't amplify it, if you don't defend yourself, it will go away, buried under the tsunami of news that is spewed out of the firehose each and every day.
Nobody cares about you. Or shall I say those who do can provide a very good living.
And nobody is all-dominant today, no one appeals to everybody. I'll bet you haven't even heard most of the songs in the Spotify Top 50. Has anybody? Sure, there are youth that are focused on the hits, but there are tons who are only interested in the niches.
Chances are you haven't even seen "Barbie." Divide those grosses by today's high ticket prices and...not everybody went. Doesn't even matter how good or bad the film was, most people just shrugged, don't care, will never care. And you've got right wing bloviators trying to gin up the base by criticizing the film's values. When something you don't like gains traction, shut up!
That's the way to win in today's society.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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I thought it would end her career. Didn't Billy Squier dance around on MTV in a pink shirt and kill his career almost overnight?
But no, I was wrong. Taylor Swift wrote a song about me and she's bigger than ever.
Just like Donald Trump.
One of my favorite tweets of the past week said people have already forgotten that Trump was convicted of sexual assault only a few months back. You remember E. Jean Carroll, don't you?
Now there's a similarity between Swift and Trump. That the believers are true and everybody else doesn't care. This too is a difference from the past. Fan bases are narrower than ever before, and their members are more rabid than ever before. They have the belief that it's them versus the world. That others are out to get them. And they must protect their heroes and themselves at all costs. They must preemptively protect themselves. They're aggressive. And it's not only in politics, everybody feels put upon, with a need to self-aggrandize for fear they'll be marginalized.
In other words, nothing is going to convince Trump supporters to give up. That's not their nature, that's not the modern paradigm.
And Taylor Swift is the biggest and most talented artist in the world, and if you say otherwise... Well, I still get tweets and e-mails from fans, calling me a hater, over a decade since I wrote about that Grammy performance. I know that might sound contradictory, but when it comes to ammunition defenders know no limit. They remember every slight, perceived or real.
So what does this mean for you?
Your past doesn't matter. We keep saying your reputation is everything, your credibility. Not in the big time. Maybe at home, in your little life, in your little circle.
Cardi B throws a mic in the audience in response to an audience member throwing something at her and...
Mainstream media debates behavior. What was going through the mind of the thrower. The person hit by Cardi's mic's injury. But my audience? It can't believe that the music still played, that Cardi B.'s vocal continued, long after she threw her mic away.
That's the story here. She wasn't singing!
But does that make any difference?
Ashlee Simpson's career was killed overnight when she was found to be lip-synching on SNL. Today, do something like that and shrug. No matter what the brouhaha, your fans, your believers, will stick by you. And oftentimes they're the only ones who care, so over time your narrative triumphs.
As for Taylor Swift's voice...
The story this week is how her concert created an earthquake, how there was seismic activity. This was everywhere. But the "New York Times" reported today that this is a regular occurrence in Seattle, the Weeknd caused seismic activity, and so did the Seahawks. But let's not let the truth get in the way of a good story, of myth-building.
And then there's the Weeknd himself, Abel Tesfaye. Responsible for one of the most reviled TV series of the year, "The Idol." Every news outlet had a story about the impact on his career. How this would hurt him, indelibly. But these writers are not students of the game, it won't hurt him at all! I'm not saying he'll hit the height of "Blinding Lights" again, but his chart performance was in decline anyway.
Bruce Springsteen was castigated over ticket prices. Remember the blowback? Well, the dates played and everybody was happy. You could even buy tickets at the last minute for some of the shows. "Backstreets" closed down in protest, the joke is on the magazine, no one cares, it all blew over.
How about that famous band that scalped its own tickets? All over the news a few years back. You don't remember who it was and the fans don't care. Just like the fans of Motley Crue who overpaid to see the final tour, written in blood, and then the band went back on tour again. The believers believe, and everybody else forgets or ignores from the get-go.
This is a phenomenon that is incomprehensible to boomers and Gen-X'ers. It was never that way. If you screwed up on MTV, the whole world was watching. But now the whole world is watching nothing, it's an endless slew of hype, assuming you're paying attention to begin with. Everybody's selling and you're picky about what you're buying.
So it's not that Taylor Swift sings better, or Donald Trump is suddenly honest. It's that the crimes of the past don't matter in the future.
And even those who get caught in the quagmire and are convicted and pay their dues... Used to be they were experienced seers, worth listening to. John Dean has been commenting on TV for decades. Michael Cohen? No one is listening to him anymore. He had his moment and it's over.
Hell, Andrew Cuomo could run for office again. His only problem is that many people didn't like him to begin with, and he didn't have a whole hell of a lot of hard core fans. But as for his faux pas?
Louis CK understands the game, he got back in it. He knows it doesn't matter what you think, only what his fans think. He may be a pariah to you, but his fans are keeping him alive.
The only people still concerned about the Morgan Wallen n-word controversy are those who never listened to his music and never will.
As for Jason Aldean... This is the best thing that has happened to him in over a decade. He's added life to his career.
Then again, Aldean took a side. He wasn't worried about what you think, only about what his fans think. He didn't make the video knowing it was going to become a national controversy, it wasn't planned out, it was just a dog whistle for country bumpkins and gun-lovers, those who feel the denizens of the city, those lefties, must be held at bay, otherwise they'll take their guns, their lifestyle, everything they believe in. Sure, the left may continue to hate Aldean, but it doesn't matter. Aldean knows it's not about appealing to everybody, but just somebody, the passionate.
Remember when network television was all about appealing to everybody? That's a death sentence today. Today you want to be narrow and edgy, and maybe those who love the show will turn their friends on.
So if you screw up... Stay silent. If you don't amplify it, if you don't defend yourself, it will go away, buried under the tsunami of news that is spewed out of the firehose each and every day.
Nobody cares about you. Or shall I say those who do can provide a very good living.
And nobody is all-dominant today, no one appeals to everybody. I'll bet you haven't even heard most of the songs in the Spotify Top 50. Has anybody? Sure, there are youth that are focused on the hits, but there are tons who are only interested in the niches.
Chances are you haven't even seen "Barbie." Divide those grosses by today's high ticket prices and...not everybody went. Doesn't even matter how good or bad the film was, most people just shrugged, don't care, will never care. And you've got right wing bloviators trying to gin up the base by criticizing the film's values. When something you don't like gains traction, shut up!
That's the way to win in today's society.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Monday 31 July 2023
Pickleball
It doesn't bounce like a tennis ball.
I was supposed to see a legendary musician in concert, one whom I've never seen, who may not tour again, but I couldn't pass up Lesley's 60th birthday party at the Santa Monica Pickleball Center. There was going to be instruction and everything!
But I wouldn't know almost anybody.
This is a regular experience when you are young, going where you don't know anybody. It's expected. Like the first day of summer camp, the first day of college. Then again, except for a few, nobody knows anybody else there either, whereas at this party...
Was my social anxiety going to hold me back?
NO!
So... It looks simple, and it is. But there's a learning curve, and for me it was all about the ball, and its bounce, or lack thereof.
I consider myself a pretty good athlete, winning the athlete of the year at Camp Laurelwood was one of the highlights of my life, but when was the last time I tried something completely new? And, by the way, I'm not that good of a tennis player, never was. Learned at that aforementioned camp, and there was the boom in the seventies, but I was not a member of a country club, I never got a leg up, I was never good, even though I played, we all played. And the skills are transferable, right?
Well, not exactly.
So the instructor had us all line up, we were going to practice serving the ball. You can do it one of two ways, you can either drop it and then hit it after the bounce, or drop it and hit in the air, volleyball style, albeit underhand. Looks simple, right? I was TERRIBLE! Man, it's so frustrating. Like the kid you put in right field, the one you pick last, who's got no ability whatsoever. I was dribbling it into the net, if it went that far. The teacher was dealing with me like I was completely inept. I could hit the ball on the fly, but it seemed the pros dropped it and then hit it, and I just couldn't do this.
So I practiced. And when everybody went off to eat pizza and chips, I continued to practice. That's when it occurred to me, I dropped the ball and I expected it to come right back up, like a tennis ball. Hell, I've been playing with tennis balls my entire life, throwing against the wall, playing baseball, playing catch, never mind playing tennis. The bounce of the ball is ingrained in my DNA. But that's not the way a pickle ball bounces. In truth, it barely bounces at all, and you've got to prepare for this.
I finally got it right. And it felt so good. I knew my talent was in there somewhere, I knew I wasn't DOA, I knew I could do it.
And then it came to playing.
They split the group into two, those who needed remedial lessons and those who could play by themselves. I went with the group who could play by themselves, there were four of us, on the court. And the funny thing is the worst player, this woman, was a stickler for the rules, she was the one keeping score, the rest of us didn't really care.
And this was when I learned even more about the ball. If she served it, with little oomph, it was going to cross the net, if it did at all, and die. If I was standing in the back of the court, waiting for it to reach me, it didn't.
But if the guy on her side served, it was different. It was easier to judge the bounce, maybe because it bounced right in front of me.
But then that guy was replaced by a guy with a wimpy serve and he was dropping them like crazy. I had to move closer to the net. And then the woman was replaced by someone better with a better attitude, that it was all about fun.
And the guy on my side, he was taking it seriously. Thank god, he was having some of the same problems I was having, with the bounce, I didn't want to be the weak link.
And I'm loving playing, and then my brain starts firing...how am I going to feel tomorrow? At my age running around, clomping on the court... But I couldn't stop, I was having too good a time.
But after an hour and a half or so, when my shirt was inundated with sweat, I took a break, my game was falling apart, I needed sustenance. And I told myself I wasn't going to eat the pizza, the heart doctor said to go light on the carbs, but I couldn't resist, I was just too hungry. And the pizza tasted so good! Having worked out, you know how good food feels after that, and you feel good about yourself.
And after some game where we all tried to hit the ball in a hat, most people continued to kibbitz, or gave up. But there was this one woman, who was unskilled and having a hard time getting it, she was on the court asking questions of the instructors, as if this game could be conquered intellectually. But in truth, you just had to play.
But the guy she was playing with, he was the good time sort. He knew it wasn't about winning, it was about playing. After all, we weren't champs.
And I took a blank space on the other side of the court with the instructor. I must say, he could reach balls I couldn't. And there was one hit...I found myself reaching, extending, on one foot...and I realized that's how you get hurt. Yes, I was scared off pickleball by that story in the "New York Times" last summer, the one about all the injuries, I didn't want to sacrifice my ski season: https://tinyurl.com/mt3fwfbr
Then again, I don't want to be one of those people who's afraid to experience sport because of the potential for injuries, then you're not living. It's all about playing, participating. Believe me, on the court I wasn't thinking about politics, I wasn't thinking about anything but the game.
And the way it works is after the ball goes over the net, on the serve, you go forward. Because of the short bounce. And if you can smack it then...
We'd had some good rallies, and they felt so good. Believe me, it wasn't hard, especially if you'd played some tennis, once you got over the bounce factor. (I know I'm hammering this, but in all my reading about pickleball I've never seen it mentioned. Sure, people talk about it being a whiffle ball, but we never played tennis with a whiffle ball.)
And now I'm in the groove. I know not to extend for balls almost out of reach, this wasn't life and death, we were just playing, not even keeping score.
But the instructor kept on complimenting me, putting his hand out for a slap when I hit a good one. I felt good.
So I'm rushing the net, I'm gonna slap the ball good, hit it where it can't be returned and...
And...
I'm still not sure exactly what happened. Whether I misjudged it or missed it. And, once again, if you're used to tennis, the ball doesn't move the exact same way. But the little yellow ball, about the size of a baseball, came over net and...THWACKED ME RIGHT IN THE EYE!
I didn't see it coming. My eye was wide open. And...
Did my contact pop out? Did I break the contact?
My eye was closed, stunned. I mean for a minute there you think about losing your vision, but then you raise your lid a bit and can still see so...
You still wonder.
And everybody's concerned. But it's not their fault. And I don't want to be the one person injured at the party, there's always one. The one nobody knows.
So I sat down on the bench and waited to recover. And as I did, I realized I was going to have one hell of a shiner the next day. Kind of like when I ran into that wooden hanger in Oslo. And the black and blue takes a while to go away.
And then I started to wonder if the eye would close up over time. I thought I'd better leave before that happened, while I could still drive home.
But when I got home there was no black and blue, just red smarting spots above and below my eye. As they say, it appears I dodged a bullet.
Not that the sensation is gone. My contact survived, intact, in place. And I was worried it would hurt to get it out, and hurt to put it back in, but that was not the case. It's the penumbra of my eye that took the brunt, even though my eye was wide open.
So I won't call it a battle scar. And since I really wasn't hurt, I'm chalking it up to the cost of playing the game. And still being confused by the trajectory of the yellow plastic ball.
But I'm ready to play again.
--
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I was supposed to see a legendary musician in concert, one whom I've never seen, who may not tour again, but I couldn't pass up Lesley's 60th birthday party at the Santa Monica Pickleball Center. There was going to be instruction and everything!
But I wouldn't know almost anybody.
This is a regular experience when you are young, going where you don't know anybody. It's expected. Like the first day of summer camp, the first day of college. Then again, except for a few, nobody knows anybody else there either, whereas at this party...
Was my social anxiety going to hold me back?
NO!
So... It looks simple, and it is. But there's a learning curve, and for me it was all about the ball, and its bounce, or lack thereof.
I consider myself a pretty good athlete, winning the athlete of the year at Camp Laurelwood was one of the highlights of my life, but when was the last time I tried something completely new? And, by the way, I'm not that good of a tennis player, never was. Learned at that aforementioned camp, and there was the boom in the seventies, but I was not a member of a country club, I never got a leg up, I was never good, even though I played, we all played. And the skills are transferable, right?
Well, not exactly.
So the instructor had us all line up, we were going to practice serving the ball. You can do it one of two ways, you can either drop it and then hit it after the bounce, or drop it and hit in the air, volleyball style, albeit underhand. Looks simple, right? I was TERRIBLE! Man, it's so frustrating. Like the kid you put in right field, the one you pick last, who's got no ability whatsoever. I was dribbling it into the net, if it went that far. The teacher was dealing with me like I was completely inept. I could hit the ball on the fly, but it seemed the pros dropped it and then hit it, and I just couldn't do this.
So I practiced. And when everybody went off to eat pizza and chips, I continued to practice. That's when it occurred to me, I dropped the ball and I expected it to come right back up, like a tennis ball. Hell, I've been playing with tennis balls my entire life, throwing against the wall, playing baseball, playing catch, never mind playing tennis. The bounce of the ball is ingrained in my DNA. But that's not the way a pickle ball bounces. In truth, it barely bounces at all, and you've got to prepare for this.
I finally got it right. And it felt so good. I knew my talent was in there somewhere, I knew I wasn't DOA, I knew I could do it.
And then it came to playing.
They split the group into two, those who needed remedial lessons and those who could play by themselves. I went with the group who could play by themselves, there were four of us, on the court. And the funny thing is the worst player, this woman, was a stickler for the rules, she was the one keeping score, the rest of us didn't really care.
And this was when I learned even more about the ball. If she served it, with little oomph, it was going to cross the net, if it did at all, and die. If I was standing in the back of the court, waiting for it to reach me, it didn't.
But if the guy on her side served, it was different. It was easier to judge the bounce, maybe because it bounced right in front of me.
But then that guy was replaced by a guy with a wimpy serve and he was dropping them like crazy. I had to move closer to the net. And then the woman was replaced by someone better with a better attitude, that it was all about fun.
And the guy on my side, he was taking it seriously. Thank god, he was having some of the same problems I was having, with the bounce, I didn't want to be the weak link.
And I'm loving playing, and then my brain starts firing...how am I going to feel tomorrow? At my age running around, clomping on the court... But I couldn't stop, I was having too good a time.
But after an hour and a half or so, when my shirt was inundated with sweat, I took a break, my game was falling apart, I needed sustenance. And I told myself I wasn't going to eat the pizza, the heart doctor said to go light on the carbs, but I couldn't resist, I was just too hungry. And the pizza tasted so good! Having worked out, you know how good food feels after that, and you feel good about yourself.
And after some game where we all tried to hit the ball in a hat, most people continued to kibbitz, or gave up. But there was this one woman, who was unskilled and having a hard time getting it, she was on the court asking questions of the instructors, as if this game could be conquered intellectually. But in truth, you just had to play.
But the guy she was playing with, he was the good time sort. He knew it wasn't about winning, it was about playing. After all, we weren't champs.
And I took a blank space on the other side of the court with the instructor. I must say, he could reach balls I couldn't. And there was one hit...I found myself reaching, extending, on one foot...and I realized that's how you get hurt. Yes, I was scared off pickleball by that story in the "New York Times" last summer, the one about all the injuries, I didn't want to sacrifice my ski season: https://tinyurl.com/mt3fwfbr
Then again, I don't want to be one of those people who's afraid to experience sport because of the potential for injuries, then you're not living. It's all about playing, participating. Believe me, on the court I wasn't thinking about politics, I wasn't thinking about anything but the game.
And the way it works is after the ball goes over the net, on the serve, you go forward. Because of the short bounce. And if you can smack it then...
We'd had some good rallies, and they felt so good. Believe me, it wasn't hard, especially if you'd played some tennis, once you got over the bounce factor. (I know I'm hammering this, but in all my reading about pickleball I've never seen it mentioned. Sure, people talk about it being a whiffle ball, but we never played tennis with a whiffle ball.)
And now I'm in the groove. I know not to extend for balls almost out of reach, this wasn't life and death, we were just playing, not even keeping score.
But the instructor kept on complimenting me, putting his hand out for a slap when I hit a good one. I felt good.
So I'm rushing the net, I'm gonna slap the ball good, hit it where it can't be returned and...
And...
I'm still not sure exactly what happened. Whether I misjudged it or missed it. And, once again, if you're used to tennis, the ball doesn't move the exact same way. But the little yellow ball, about the size of a baseball, came over net and...THWACKED ME RIGHT IN THE EYE!
I didn't see it coming. My eye was wide open. And...
Did my contact pop out? Did I break the contact?
My eye was closed, stunned. I mean for a minute there you think about losing your vision, but then you raise your lid a bit and can still see so...
You still wonder.
And everybody's concerned. But it's not their fault. And I don't want to be the one person injured at the party, there's always one. The one nobody knows.
So I sat down on the bench and waited to recover. And as I did, I realized I was going to have one hell of a shiner the next day. Kind of like when I ran into that wooden hanger in Oslo. And the black and blue takes a while to go away.
And then I started to wonder if the eye would close up over time. I thought I'd better leave before that happened, while I could still drive home.
But when I got home there was no black and blue, just red smarting spots above and below my eye. As they say, it appears I dodged a bullet.
Not that the sensation is gone. My contact survived, intact, in place. And I was worried it would hurt to get it out, and hurt to put it back in, but that was not the case. It's the penumbra of my eye that took the brunt, even though my eye was wide open.
So I won't call it a battle scar. And since I really wasn't hurt, I'm chalking it up to the cost of playing the game. And still being confused by the trajectory of the yellow plastic ball.
But I'm ready to play again.
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Throwing Objects On Stage
This isn't about violence, this is about power.
It's not the twentieth century anymore. And the media and titans of yesteryear and those following in their footsteps are ignorant and unaware.
The landscape has changed. For all the doody about adoration of artists, more people now believe artists are no better than they are. The emperor has no clothes. Let me see, the people being hit have been built by a machine that requires willingness more than talent. These acts are foisted on the public like they are gods, when in truth they're frequently empty vessels, parading their wealth and lifestyles with supposed impunity. The hoi polloi has had enough, they want to bring these people down a notch or two. And whatcha gonna do about it?
Gonna sue 'em like file-traders? Gonna arrest 'em? Are you even able to find out who they are? Are you going to lock down concerts? Give privileges to the beefy security guards who used to be sued on a regular basis after mishandling the public?
Income inequality. It's your fault you're not rich. Oh yeah? You keep telling us that, but we don't believe it. Forget the blind ignoramuses supporting Trump, those delusional people are driving the Republican party off a cliff. I don't care how old Biden is, unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool Trumper you're never going to vote for that man. In other words, the Republican brass has lost control. As has Fox News. Even Trump himself. He praised vaccines and got booed. This is what happens when you feed the monster, the monster devours you.
So what has happened in the past two decades is the public has gained the power of communication. Used to be you needed a media outlet to get your voice heard, and then only a tiny few got the privilege, oftentimes through connections. Media ruled and it was believed the public was going along.
Then the public got a voice.
TikTok is more powerful than Netflix. Think about that. The government pooh-poohs it, the Chinese company spends no money on "programming," and the public eats it up. Because the public is into visceral, into life. It doesn't want a bland presentation massaged for mass consumption, it wants the truth, reality, which is always stranger than fiction. Why watch a phony dating show when you've got people of all ages and all sexual persuasions testifying as to their experiences online? Regular people, not just the beautiful picked by TV producers. Talking about real issues, like cheap dates who want to split the tab, never mind whacked dates.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum because those running the asylum believed that change does not happen. This is how Trump got elected in the first place, it was a giant middle finger to Hillary and the establishment. They were sick and tired of being told they didn't count, to get to the back of the line, by people who kept telling them they were smarter.
Of course there was white nationalism. Woken up by Trump via dog whistles online, and then good people on both sides hogwash. Trump understood the media landscape. How it was now one to one, and you had to make news every day. Trump understood more about media relations than anybody else, he went directly to the public, screw the middleman. This is how you do it in music today, forget radio, forget the in-betweens, go directly to fans. And don't insist on the brass ring. The Grammys, the trophies... The public believes they're fake, and there are no trophies for them anyway.
In other words, if you're out of touch and rich, you're a target. Like Howard Schultz in Congress. You made those billions all by yourself, as if we didn't buy all that coffee? It happened in a vacuum? And Bob Iger castigating the talent for wanting more when he makes triple-digit millions? And even Zaslav, canceling that Batgirl movie, in one fell swoop he lifted his profile and became an object of hatred.
We're in the midst of a reckoning right now. Will it succeed? I'm not betting on it, but people are pissed about income inequality. We've got unions and strikes and the only people on the fat cats' side are other fat cats.
So you take the stage at some overpriced gig, not only the tickets, but the fare. And then someone in the audience feels empowered by their buddies and throws something at you, demonstrating their power. Whatcha gonna do? You can't sue, these people are judgment proof, it's the star who has the cash. And if you think you've got the public on your side...
Miranda Lambert stopped the show and criticized the people down front for taking selfies and... The woman in the audience got national publicity, sympathy. She paid, why shouldn't she be able to do what she wants? She became a hero instead of a zero.
And the wealthy and supposedly powerful keep trying to corral us. Tell us we're wrong. Don't use TikTok, it's bad, you're sacrificing your privacy! Meanwhile, we've got no privacy, our data is everywhere and the government helps collect it. And now you're worried? That ship sailed long ago.
Like Congress in general. Nitwits like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. They delusionally believe they are powerful. And they have been elected in their gerrymandered districts, but in truth they're laughingstocks. The institution of Congress has been brought down more than a couple of notches. I mean if these nincompoops can get elected... And then there's the Supreme Court. Getting endless gifts and making excuses about it like a five year old. Well, if I didn't take the seat on the private jet it would have gone empty, so there was no gift to me. In what world does this wash? None!
But you expect the public to respect you and the institution? Used to be people were afraid of lying in court, now we've got an ex-President who lies every time he opens his mouth and a rigged judicial system that can't be trusted. Who are you gonna believe in? Yourself!
Don't tell me I'm wrong, don't even think this is about politics. Those are just examples, it crosses many lines. Like the Bud Light boycott. That's about the public, not the leaders. They want to give the middle finger to Budweiser, show the company who's boss. And they did!
The corporations are hipper than the government. But they've got no backbone. Hell, Bud Light should have doubled-down, instead it caved, satisfying no one. This is the age of credibility, it's oftentimes more powerful than money. Have an identity, have beliefs, and stick to them. Don't do anything for the money, those are entertainers. And sure, influencers will take corporate money, but many are brain dead and even though their audiences might be large, they're de minimis in the overall scheme of things, and the media just focuses on the stars because that's all it knows how to do, when really it's about the nobodies, the endless sea of nobodies, that feels it's been pissed upon for years and isn't going to take it anymore.
The public is on the side of the unions, both nascent at Starbucks and Apple, and striking like the WGA and SAG. People can't understand how Apple, the richest company in the world, can't lay out a little more. Why not? Ditto on Starbucks, on every corner, an American institution, why should Howard Schultz get all that money?
This is what the internet has wrought. It has brought us together, showed that we are like-minded and have power, that we are not lone wankers. Come on, go online, you can find a group for anything and everything. You feel included. The media might not pay attention, but you feel powerful.
This is the story of our age.
And the powers-that-be think they can just quash it as opposed to appease it, get in bed with it. Only a police state could change the course of history. Which some people want. Yes, those Trumpers feel powerful. As for that Jim Caviezel movie, a conspiracy-mongering piece of trash, it's got a huge gross based in large part on people not going to the theatre. Don't you know that story? Sold out shows are empty. They're gaming the system.
You have to pay attention.
And the way you do this is by participating too. By going online, by being on social media. But all traditional media can do is decry the internet. Put your phone down! Don't upgrade it! Take time off! As if everybody is a harried executive working 24/7. No, the average person... Do you know anybody without a smartphone? Oh, I hear from Luddites and will after just writing that, but I do not know anybody without a smartphone, ANYBODY, except for people under ten. Think of the power, more computing power than landed men on the moon, right in your pocket. And the ability to not only consume, but broadcast your thoughts and beliefs across the entire world, instantly.
But even some supposedly bright people are clueless. Like Elon Musk. Turning Twitter, er, X, over to bros who ruined the platform. That's what freedom looks like. Hell, the public doesn't even understand free speech. A social network can edit and censor anything it wants, it's a private company, not the government. But people believe they've got a raw right to say whatever they want whenever they want. Are you surprised people are throwing objects at entertainers?
You shouldn't be.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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It's not the twentieth century anymore. And the media and titans of yesteryear and those following in their footsteps are ignorant and unaware.
The landscape has changed. For all the doody about adoration of artists, more people now believe artists are no better than they are. The emperor has no clothes. Let me see, the people being hit have been built by a machine that requires willingness more than talent. These acts are foisted on the public like they are gods, when in truth they're frequently empty vessels, parading their wealth and lifestyles with supposed impunity. The hoi polloi has had enough, they want to bring these people down a notch or two. And whatcha gonna do about it?
Gonna sue 'em like file-traders? Gonna arrest 'em? Are you even able to find out who they are? Are you going to lock down concerts? Give privileges to the beefy security guards who used to be sued on a regular basis after mishandling the public?
Income inequality. It's your fault you're not rich. Oh yeah? You keep telling us that, but we don't believe it. Forget the blind ignoramuses supporting Trump, those delusional people are driving the Republican party off a cliff. I don't care how old Biden is, unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool Trumper you're never going to vote for that man. In other words, the Republican brass has lost control. As has Fox News. Even Trump himself. He praised vaccines and got booed. This is what happens when you feed the monster, the monster devours you.
So what has happened in the past two decades is the public has gained the power of communication. Used to be you needed a media outlet to get your voice heard, and then only a tiny few got the privilege, oftentimes through connections. Media ruled and it was believed the public was going along.
Then the public got a voice.
TikTok is more powerful than Netflix. Think about that. The government pooh-poohs it, the Chinese company spends no money on "programming," and the public eats it up. Because the public is into visceral, into life. It doesn't want a bland presentation massaged for mass consumption, it wants the truth, reality, which is always stranger than fiction. Why watch a phony dating show when you've got people of all ages and all sexual persuasions testifying as to their experiences online? Regular people, not just the beautiful picked by TV producers. Talking about real issues, like cheap dates who want to split the tab, never mind whacked dates.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum because those running the asylum believed that change does not happen. This is how Trump got elected in the first place, it was a giant middle finger to Hillary and the establishment. They were sick and tired of being told they didn't count, to get to the back of the line, by people who kept telling them they were smarter.
Of course there was white nationalism. Woken up by Trump via dog whistles online, and then good people on both sides hogwash. Trump understood the media landscape. How it was now one to one, and you had to make news every day. Trump understood more about media relations than anybody else, he went directly to the public, screw the middleman. This is how you do it in music today, forget radio, forget the in-betweens, go directly to fans. And don't insist on the brass ring. The Grammys, the trophies... The public believes they're fake, and there are no trophies for them anyway.
In other words, if you're out of touch and rich, you're a target. Like Howard Schultz in Congress. You made those billions all by yourself, as if we didn't buy all that coffee? It happened in a vacuum? And Bob Iger castigating the talent for wanting more when he makes triple-digit millions? And even Zaslav, canceling that Batgirl movie, in one fell swoop he lifted his profile and became an object of hatred.
We're in the midst of a reckoning right now. Will it succeed? I'm not betting on it, but people are pissed about income inequality. We've got unions and strikes and the only people on the fat cats' side are other fat cats.
So you take the stage at some overpriced gig, not only the tickets, but the fare. And then someone in the audience feels empowered by their buddies and throws something at you, demonstrating their power. Whatcha gonna do? You can't sue, these people are judgment proof, it's the star who has the cash. And if you think you've got the public on your side...
Miranda Lambert stopped the show and criticized the people down front for taking selfies and... The woman in the audience got national publicity, sympathy. She paid, why shouldn't she be able to do what she wants? She became a hero instead of a zero.
And the wealthy and supposedly powerful keep trying to corral us. Tell us we're wrong. Don't use TikTok, it's bad, you're sacrificing your privacy! Meanwhile, we've got no privacy, our data is everywhere and the government helps collect it. And now you're worried? That ship sailed long ago.
Like Congress in general. Nitwits like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. They delusionally believe they are powerful. And they have been elected in their gerrymandered districts, but in truth they're laughingstocks. The institution of Congress has been brought down more than a couple of notches. I mean if these nincompoops can get elected... And then there's the Supreme Court. Getting endless gifts and making excuses about it like a five year old. Well, if I didn't take the seat on the private jet it would have gone empty, so there was no gift to me. In what world does this wash? None!
But you expect the public to respect you and the institution? Used to be people were afraid of lying in court, now we've got an ex-President who lies every time he opens his mouth and a rigged judicial system that can't be trusted. Who are you gonna believe in? Yourself!
Don't tell me I'm wrong, don't even think this is about politics. Those are just examples, it crosses many lines. Like the Bud Light boycott. That's about the public, not the leaders. They want to give the middle finger to Budweiser, show the company who's boss. And they did!
The corporations are hipper than the government. But they've got no backbone. Hell, Bud Light should have doubled-down, instead it caved, satisfying no one. This is the age of credibility, it's oftentimes more powerful than money. Have an identity, have beliefs, and stick to them. Don't do anything for the money, those are entertainers. And sure, influencers will take corporate money, but many are brain dead and even though their audiences might be large, they're de minimis in the overall scheme of things, and the media just focuses on the stars because that's all it knows how to do, when really it's about the nobodies, the endless sea of nobodies, that feels it's been pissed upon for years and isn't going to take it anymore.
The public is on the side of the unions, both nascent at Starbucks and Apple, and striking like the WGA and SAG. People can't understand how Apple, the richest company in the world, can't lay out a little more. Why not? Ditto on Starbucks, on every corner, an American institution, why should Howard Schultz get all that money?
This is what the internet has wrought. It has brought us together, showed that we are like-minded and have power, that we are not lone wankers. Come on, go online, you can find a group for anything and everything. You feel included. The media might not pay attention, but you feel powerful.
This is the story of our age.
And the powers-that-be think they can just quash it as opposed to appease it, get in bed with it. Only a police state could change the course of history. Which some people want. Yes, those Trumpers feel powerful. As for that Jim Caviezel movie, a conspiracy-mongering piece of trash, it's got a huge gross based in large part on people not going to the theatre. Don't you know that story? Sold out shows are empty. They're gaming the system.
You have to pay attention.
And the way you do this is by participating too. By going online, by being on social media. But all traditional media can do is decry the internet. Put your phone down! Don't upgrade it! Take time off! As if everybody is a harried executive working 24/7. No, the average person... Do you know anybody without a smartphone? Oh, I hear from Luddites and will after just writing that, but I do not know anybody without a smartphone, ANYBODY, except for people under ten. Think of the power, more computing power than landed men on the moon, right in your pocket. And the ability to not only consume, but broadcast your thoughts and beliefs across the entire world, instantly.
But even some supposedly bright people are clueless. Like Elon Musk. Turning Twitter, er, X, over to bros who ruined the platform. That's what freedom looks like. Hell, the public doesn't even understand free speech. A social network can edit and censor anything it wants, it's a private company, not the government. But people believe they've got a raw right to say whatever they want whenever they want. Are you surprised people are throwing objects at entertainers?
You shouldn't be.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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