"It's a pleasure to meet you - Part 2": https://tinyurl.com/yc6nybue
This is the most rock and roll thing I've seen any white man do in the Spotify/social media era. It reeks of the Bob Dylan/Neil Young era of yore. However, both of them never saw a need to explain themselves. Dylan went on record he was just a guy who knew no better than you. Young was constantly cryptic, as was Dylan, when he deigned to respond. However, both Dylan and Young were better informed.
But it was a different era. It was easier to grasp the truth. Today the truth is fungible and all Oliver Anthony has is his experience. And he's testifying as to that. And he gets kudos for that. He's a beacon in a sold-out world.
First there was corporate rock. And then MTV and CDs. There was more money than ever before in the music business. And more money was needed to be rich after Reagan legitimized greed with his economic policies, foisting income inequality on the masses. Everybody strove for success, but sometime in the past twenty five years many woke up and realized it wasn't working for them, that there wasn't an upward path, and that the winners were ultimately abusing them with their economic policies and lifestyles.
I was born with the American Dream. That we all start from the same line, that we can all become rich and successful, that it's eminently possible. But that was before the lottery was legal, never mind casino gambling outside Las Vegas. People want a shortcut to wealth, it's their only option. Never mind that the lottery is a tax on the poor. I could explain that, but...
The explanations don't work. Only experience works. And the experience leads to politics. And everybody in entertainment says to avoid politics and then this nobody comes from nowhere and triumphs, channeling people's anger.
The poor have been screwed. Left behind as their jobs were shipped overseas. And welfare was demonized and cut. Poor is pejorative, it means more than no money, it means you're weak and don't count, that if you had any wherewithal you'd pick yourself up by your bootstraps and make yourself a success, as if birth circumstances and health consequences are irrelevant.
However, is Oliver Anthony good enough to sustain his rejection of the Republican party's co-option of him?
Dylan and Young had put in years before they distanced themselves from their audience. Rejected adoration. They'd proven themselves artistically. Oliver Anthony is just beginning. And if it weren't for the political hoopla would his song have been strong enough, a one listen smash, to propel him to the top of the chart?
Well, he is speaking about taboo issues in entertainment. Country radio is either about somnambulance, partying all the time, or adhering to a good ole boy ethos, the kind that had northerners worried about entering the redneck south in the sixties and seventies. Investigate the country world, everybody will testify that it's controlled by radio. And you play along or you're excised. Of course there are those in Nashville not playing this game, but their impact is marginal. Commercially. In reach. Unlike Oliver Anthony, who is said to be making 40k a day on "Rich Men North of Richmond." And they said streaming doesn't pay. Well, it does if you have a hit. And Anthony had a hit doing it completely differently from everybody complaining. Anthony is channeling his inner truth, his music is unfettered, he's the disrupter as opposed to the me-too, the man who the major labels want nothing to do with, unless you prove success without them.
So...
If I were a betting man I would not bet on Oliver Anthony's continued success. Because he's just not that talented. Maybe he's a harbinger of things to come, but in a world where even Taylor Swift and Beyonce are not universal, what are the odds that someone less talented and less polished can be?
Long.
But in a matter of days, Oliver Anthony had more reach, more impact, than either Swift or Knowles, whose tours are breaking records. Yes, there's been a ton of news about their treks, but it's all business, there's very little ink about the songs. You see Swift and Knowles have lost touch with the public at large. They're niche. Very big niches, but niche nevertheless. Maybe they speak of the universal love, but the inner feelings, the frustrations of the hoi polloi, they lost touch with that. Swift broke channeling teenage angst, then she sold out to the pop cognoscenti and lost the plot. The entire music business has lost the plot. Which is why it's secondary in impact to streaming television. Don't quote dollars, quote gut impact. Moving the culture. Foisting discussion. Sure, musicians have diehard brain dead fans who will castigate you if you question their hero, but don't associate that with the general passion of a hit of yore.
Now sans the right wing interpretation of "Rich Men North of Richmond," sans its adoption as a right wing mantra, I think the song would have been dead in the water. But the truth is politics is more powerful than the traditional hype mechanisms of a long in the tooth music industry. Oh, the music industry is loaded with publicists, speaking to usual suspect outlets, but this is a far cry from the days of the past when the song itself generated the publicity, when the hype came after the impact. That's the story with both Jason Aldean and Oliver Anthony's songs, the press reacted. And there was a visceral impact upon the public. Everybody had to listen. When was the last time there was a must-listen tune? And even if you hated these songs, you had an opinion, you could discuss them with others, which has been an impossibility for years in this Tower of Babel world. In other words, Aldean and Anthony brought us together.
Maybe because we're apart.
I don't expect Republicans to do any more quoting of Oliver Anthony after this video, I don't expect constant iTunes purchases. There will be no shadow campaign to make him a hero. And maybe "Rich Men North of Richmond" will sustain, but sans controversy, is the average person interested? Like I said, it's not like Anthony has demonstrated the talent of Ed Sheeran, nowhere close. Then again, Anthony has channeled a truth that seems to have completely escaped Mr. Sheeran,.
Entertainment, That's what the Spotify Top 50 is all about. Visceral, changing the culture content? That was gone years ago.
Now the longer Anthony talks in this video, the more naive and out-of-touch he seems. Then again, I've got to give him credit for speaking from the heart. Yes, music is a dirty business. But I've got news for Oliver, all business is dirty. If you raise your head above the vultures come, instantly.
But Anthony does have it right, saying it's all about his constituency. This is not lip-service to fans, this is an emotional thing. Anthony is not denying where he's coming from. And he's not putting on a cowboy hat and faking it. One of the best elements of the video is the pattering of rain on the truck. Hollywood would have cut this. Hollywood wants facsimiles of truth, not the real thing. It's like twenty writers on a song. The honesty is long gone. One guy and his guitar triumphed over all of them.
Anthony explained his swipe at the obese. And he seems to defend welfare, by saying how few people are on it, but since he was an unknown we did not know where he was coming from. And still, I don't think he understands energy. Then again, watch the whole video and you'll ultimately hear that he doesn't blame the poor food choices on the poor. You know it costs a fortune to eat healthy. And to buy Ozempic. Right now it's hard to get insurance to cover these new weight loss medications, assuming you've got insurance to begin with. And maybe that's Anthony's point, that the Rich Men North of Richmond got rid of the provisions of Obamacare that protected the poor, and then there are states that refuse to take Medicaid money. Yes, Anthony seems to be speaking for the downtrodden, albeit in a somewhat ham-fisted way.
But one thing is for sure, his anger shines through.
We're all angry. And very few of us are fully-informed. And we're dedicated to our tribe, or proud to say that we are not in a tribe. It's crazy, George Harrison implored us to think for ourselves almost sixty years ago, but that mantra is long gone.
Critical thinking. Analysis. It's all emotion these days. And manipulation. By the rich and powerful. They've got you where they want you. Anthony now says he's rebelling against this. Where does this leave him? With his audience, with his fans, of which there are relatively few. The politicos are done. Sure, some might want to adopt him to align themselves with the poor, but based on this video, it appears that Anthony doesn't want to play.
Anthony does not appear to be eager to capitalize on his success. And we haven't had that spirit here since 1969. And it's quite refreshing to see it. Hollywood says everybody sells out, that you should go for the cash, not to miss your opportunity. But here we have someone who has taken the opposite path and succeeded far beyond those who played the game. As big as Lil Nas X was, he's nowhere near the league of Oliver Anthony. Everybody knows Oliver Anthony and his song. In a world where that's essentially impossible. That's mind-blowing.
We need more Oliver Anthonys.
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Saturday 26 August 2023
Friday 25 August 2023
My Summer Of '72-2-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday August 26th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Thursday 24 August 2023
Battle Of Ink And Ice
"Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media": https://tinyurl.com/yu3n73vw
With all this hype about BookTok, I decided to do a deeper dive.
A waste of time. What we've got here is women, and a few men, testifying as to their love of a book(s). That's it, they love it, it's their favorite. Should you partake? NO! This is not how recommendation works. You recommend something if you think someone else will like it. And believe me, almost all of the recommendations coming my way are substandard.
Which is all to say I'm reluctant to recommend you read "Battle of Ink and Ice." It's not that it's a hard read, it's just that it takes a while to get hooked and you never get completely riveted. If you want a book that excavates history and will keep you more riveted, try Bill Bryson's "One Summer: America, 1927": https://tinyurl.com/ucz96kjm I downloaded it from the library because Gary Dell'Abate recommended it, not expecting to do much more than start, never mind finish, but this ten year old book is a revelation, in its delineation of the history of the time, most of which we've forgotten if we ever knew it to begin with. There's the race to fly across the Atlantic, the complete story of Lindbergh, and politics and Babe Ruth... I wouldn't put "One Summer" at the top of your list, but like I said above, if history is what you're looking for, it's easier to read and soon hooks you, unlike "Battle of Ink and Ice." But "Battle of Ink and Ice" ultimately has more impact, will deliver more insight, it's hard to stop thinking about it.
Newspapers were the internet of their day. Starting around the time of the Civil War. It's astounding how similar they were to what we've been living through online the past thirty or so years. There were upstarts, competition, sensationalism, lies... The publishers were selling papers, truth was secondary to getting people to cough up their dough. We're still in this era in social media. X is full of b.s., and controlled by the #1 b.s.'er himself, Elon Musk. Mark Zuckerberg seems to lack almost all humanity. And there were press titans in the past, like the owner of the "Herald" and his son, who ruled by whim.
And ultimately you got Pulitzer and Hearst and there was a lot of money, but not a whole hell of a lot of trustworthiness.
Now this newspaper story is told via the race to reach the North Pole. Both Cook and Peary claimed the achievement. Was one of them lying?
Well, papers had invested in polar exploration, so were they inherently biased?
But the essence is... Cook was likable, and said he got there first, and as a result he got a hero's welcome. A congratulatory sail around Manhattan, a parade on the island and then a book tour across the nation. He got rich. Peary was bitter, kept on saying Cook was a loser who hadn't made it. Peary was exposed as someone who was in it for the glory only, screw scientific achievement, he needed to get there first.
But when the Danes ultimately investigated Cook's documentation, months later, they laughed, they said there was no way he made it to the Pole.
But it was too late for Peary. The parade, the speaking engagements...the public thought he was a sore loser, full of sour grapes, they couldn't warm up to him, even after Cook was deemed a liar. Even crazier, some people continued to defend Cook, because of likability, if nothing else.
Sound like today?
Conventional wisdom can be plain wrong. And media can shape people's opinions. And character and presentation count more than the truth sometimes.
By time I came along, papers were respectable. Yellow journalism was mostly in the rearview mirror. Papers had been consolidated and were seen as authoritative. We were told in school not to trust everything we read, but the papers were relatively trustworthy.
And then came the internet. Which pushed the papers aside. It's funny to see all this hogwash about saving newspapers. They're history, the model is gone. To try and prop them up is like trying to prop up anything that's been superseded by the present, a fool's errand, a waste of money. The "New York Times" triumphs because not only does it sell news, authoritatively, as the last man standing, but because it also sells games, cooking, sports and consumer advice...all these verticals as subscriptions.
As for the failing "New York Times"... It was failing, almost dead, and then Adolph Ochs purchased it and resuscitated it. Ochs was a businessman, not a journalist. He left that to others. Hired good people and mostly didn't meddle. And decided to pursue an untracked vertical, one wherein you paid more for financial news, which others were ignoring, and facts as opposed to opinion. The other papers specialized in opinion, the "Times" let you make up your own mind. The "Times" got respect, never mind purchases, from the upscale, the movers and shakers, and it was on its way. The "Times" questioned the truth and didn't get caught up in petty tit for tat. And those that played by the old rules were ultimately also-rans, that had to merge to survive, if they did at all.
It's just astounding that history is repeating itself. That the medium is different, but the story with the internet is the same. A new paradigm comes along, the entire populace is excited about it, and it draws in people who are looking to get rich...scammers, spammers, those who see an opportunity, who care not a whit about getting it right, the public at large, trust, they just want to sell.
Like not only Elon Musk, but Mark Zuckerberg. And then the Chinese come along and do it better than either of them, with TikTok, just like the "Times."
It's all there.
"Battle of Ink and Ice" got great reviews. It's not unknown. Not some book from a university press that is poorly written and will ultimately go nowhere. It's not obscure. And if you read it it will deliver insight, will get your brain cranking.
"Battle of Ink and Ice" does not read like a textbook, it's not a chore, but if you want something that will deliver absolutely...
Ultimately, the Ann Patchett book "Tom Lake" is overrated. It's not that it's bad, it's highly readable, but it's ultimately slight in meaning, minor. But the fact that it's so lauded and talked about just demonstrates how hard it is to write something great.
I'd say to read Dennis Lehane's "Small Mercies" before. It's a genre book, by the guy who wrote "Mystic River." This is not my interest, I'd never read a Lehane book before, but a friend I trust recommended it and...it's not quite riveting, but it's close. And unlike "Tom Lake"...it does have a deeper meaning, it does apply to life in general, it's not solely about plot. Then again, it's a bit of a stretch to say that.
The new Winslow book is his worst ever, a total disappointment. Don't even bother.
I'm having a hard time delivering a slam dunk, at least one I haven't written about previously. And unlike the BookTokkers I'm not going to salivate over Colleen Hoover. Once again, the wisdom of the crowd is not always right. Just because you're reading that does not mean you can pat yourself on the back. There's a whole hell of a lot of streaming TV that's better than so many books.
My point being is if you read one book a year, don't start with "Battle of Ink and Ice." But if you're the kind of person who likes history, mostly unknown or unamplified history, who likes a book removed from today but has lessons for today...
There's a whole hell of a lot of information out there that will enrich your life, that will give you a leg up. Too much conversation is worthless, bloviators who know nothing and jockeying for position by losers. If you want to rise above, you can, in your own little home, just by informing yourself via media...reading, streaming TV... You don't need to brag about reading "Battle of Ink and Ice," but if you do complete it you'll have perspective I certainly didn't have prior to reading it. And this perspective now informs my view of today's landscape. I read the book for fun, but it paid unforeseen dividends.
You're on your own.
With all this hype about BookTok, I decided to do a deeper dive.
A waste of time. What we've got here is women, and a few men, testifying as to their love of a book(s). That's it, they love it, it's their favorite. Should you partake? NO! This is not how recommendation works. You recommend something if you think someone else will like it. And believe me, almost all of the recommendations coming my way are substandard.
Which is all to say I'm reluctant to recommend you read "Battle of Ink and Ice." It's not that it's a hard read, it's just that it takes a while to get hooked and you never get completely riveted. If you want a book that excavates history and will keep you more riveted, try Bill Bryson's "One Summer: America, 1927": https://tinyurl.com/ucz96kjm I downloaded it from the library because Gary Dell'Abate recommended it, not expecting to do much more than start, never mind finish, but this ten year old book is a revelation, in its delineation of the history of the time, most of which we've forgotten if we ever knew it to begin with. There's the race to fly across the Atlantic, the complete story of Lindbergh, and politics and Babe Ruth... I wouldn't put "One Summer" at the top of your list, but like I said above, if history is what you're looking for, it's easier to read and soon hooks you, unlike "Battle of Ink and Ice." But "Battle of Ink and Ice" ultimately has more impact, will deliver more insight, it's hard to stop thinking about it.
Newspapers were the internet of their day. Starting around the time of the Civil War. It's astounding how similar they were to what we've been living through online the past thirty or so years. There were upstarts, competition, sensationalism, lies... The publishers were selling papers, truth was secondary to getting people to cough up their dough. We're still in this era in social media. X is full of b.s., and controlled by the #1 b.s.'er himself, Elon Musk. Mark Zuckerberg seems to lack almost all humanity. And there were press titans in the past, like the owner of the "Herald" and his son, who ruled by whim.
And ultimately you got Pulitzer and Hearst and there was a lot of money, but not a whole hell of a lot of trustworthiness.
Now this newspaper story is told via the race to reach the North Pole. Both Cook and Peary claimed the achievement. Was one of them lying?
Well, papers had invested in polar exploration, so were they inherently biased?
But the essence is... Cook was likable, and said he got there first, and as a result he got a hero's welcome. A congratulatory sail around Manhattan, a parade on the island and then a book tour across the nation. He got rich. Peary was bitter, kept on saying Cook was a loser who hadn't made it. Peary was exposed as someone who was in it for the glory only, screw scientific achievement, he needed to get there first.
But when the Danes ultimately investigated Cook's documentation, months later, they laughed, they said there was no way he made it to the Pole.
But it was too late for Peary. The parade, the speaking engagements...the public thought he was a sore loser, full of sour grapes, they couldn't warm up to him, even after Cook was deemed a liar. Even crazier, some people continued to defend Cook, because of likability, if nothing else.
Sound like today?
Conventional wisdom can be plain wrong. And media can shape people's opinions. And character and presentation count more than the truth sometimes.
By time I came along, papers were respectable. Yellow journalism was mostly in the rearview mirror. Papers had been consolidated and were seen as authoritative. We were told in school not to trust everything we read, but the papers were relatively trustworthy.
And then came the internet. Which pushed the papers aside. It's funny to see all this hogwash about saving newspapers. They're history, the model is gone. To try and prop them up is like trying to prop up anything that's been superseded by the present, a fool's errand, a waste of money. The "New York Times" triumphs because not only does it sell news, authoritatively, as the last man standing, but because it also sells games, cooking, sports and consumer advice...all these verticals as subscriptions.
As for the failing "New York Times"... It was failing, almost dead, and then Adolph Ochs purchased it and resuscitated it. Ochs was a businessman, not a journalist. He left that to others. Hired good people and mostly didn't meddle. And decided to pursue an untracked vertical, one wherein you paid more for financial news, which others were ignoring, and facts as opposed to opinion. The other papers specialized in opinion, the "Times" let you make up your own mind. The "Times" got respect, never mind purchases, from the upscale, the movers and shakers, and it was on its way. The "Times" questioned the truth and didn't get caught up in petty tit for tat. And those that played by the old rules were ultimately also-rans, that had to merge to survive, if they did at all.
It's just astounding that history is repeating itself. That the medium is different, but the story with the internet is the same. A new paradigm comes along, the entire populace is excited about it, and it draws in people who are looking to get rich...scammers, spammers, those who see an opportunity, who care not a whit about getting it right, the public at large, trust, they just want to sell.
Like not only Elon Musk, but Mark Zuckerberg. And then the Chinese come along and do it better than either of them, with TikTok, just like the "Times."
It's all there.
"Battle of Ink and Ice" got great reviews. It's not unknown. Not some book from a university press that is poorly written and will ultimately go nowhere. It's not obscure. And if you read it it will deliver insight, will get your brain cranking.
"Battle of Ink and Ice" does not read like a textbook, it's not a chore, but if you want something that will deliver absolutely...
Ultimately, the Ann Patchett book "Tom Lake" is overrated. It's not that it's bad, it's highly readable, but it's ultimately slight in meaning, minor. But the fact that it's so lauded and talked about just demonstrates how hard it is to write something great.
I'd say to read Dennis Lehane's "Small Mercies" before. It's a genre book, by the guy who wrote "Mystic River." This is not my interest, I'd never read a Lehane book before, but a friend I trust recommended it and...it's not quite riveting, but it's close. And unlike "Tom Lake"...it does have a deeper meaning, it does apply to life in general, it's not solely about plot. Then again, it's a bit of a stretch to say that.
The new Winslow book is his worst ever, a total disappointment. Don't even bother.
I'm having a hard time delivering a slam dunk, at least one I haven't written about previously. And unlike the BookTokkers I'm not going to salivate over Colleen Hoover. Once again, the wisdom of the crowd is not always right. Just because you're reading that does not mean you can pat yourself on the back. There's a whole hell of a lot of streaming TV that's better than so many books.
My point being is if you read one book a year, don't start with "Battle of Ink and Ice." But if you're the kind of person who likes history, mostly unknown or unamplified history, who likes a book removed from today but has lessons for today...
There's a whole hell of a lot of information out there that will enrich your life, that will give you a leg up. Too much conversation is worthless, bloviators who know nothing and jockeying for position by losers. If you want to rise above, you can, in your own little home, just by informing yourself via media...reading, streaming TV... You don't need to brag about reading "Battle of Ink and Ice," but if you do complete it you'll have perspective I certainly didn't have prior to reading it. And this perspective now informs my view of today's landscape. I read the book for fun, but it paid unforeseen dividends.
You're on your own.
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Listen to the podcast:
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Eric Johnson-This Week's Podcast
Guitarist extraordinaire.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/eric-johnson-121719523/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eric-johnson/id1316200737?i=1000625534005
https://open.spotify.com/episode/64F3ABpJPEVSCOOKO2JSxc?si=USrY5OZKQ7qkZ8AQR-dapA
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/c522d52c-4ae6-494b-bf4c-0ee0b3811e8d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-eric-johnson
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/eric-johnson-306670800
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/eric-johnson-121719523/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eric-johnson/id1316200737?i=1000625534005
https://open.spotify.com/episode/64F3ABpJPEVSCOOKO2JSxc?si=USrY5OZKQ7qkZ8AQR-dapA
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/c522d52c-4ae6-494b-bf4c-0ee0b3811e8d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-eric-johnson
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/eric-johnson-306670800
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Wednesday 23 August 2023
The Republican Debate
We're doing this again?
I watched so you don't have to. Well, an hour anyway. I couldn't take any more, and I doubt the rest of the viewers could either.
And here's what I've got to tell you...
Chris Christie is toast. He's the Mike Bloomberg of the Republican party. A theoretical force until you see him on stage, where he seems to have lost a step. It's the same old crap plus a bunch of anti-Trump stuff that no one is listening to, so what's the point.
I don't know what is going on in Florida, but Mike DeSantis is not ready for the national stage, and probably won't ever be ready. Media-coached, he had one of the most fake smiles in history. You could see his brain working, to try and spread his lips, to show some teeth. It was out of "Mad" magazine or something. This guy is so cold and unlikable it's laughable. But he really lost all credibility when the candidates were asked to raise their hand if they felt climate change was real and he broke in unsolicited, with some cockamamie verbiage trying to forestall, hopefully eliminate completely, a yes or no decision. He was belligerent, the kind of guy who talks over you at a party. Who cares about climate change, this man's behavior was offensive, and evading the question by battling it, saying it's unnecessary to begin with, that was a bad look.
The surprise was Nikki Haley, who's basing her campaign on truth, the consequences of Trump's policies, the rise in the debt... Again and again Haley spoke truth, even saying there was no way in hell a federal abortion ban could be passed, because it would require 60 Republican senators, and that's impossible, at least in the near term. However, as good as Haley looked, as much as her smile appeared genuine, there was something stilted in her presentation, she did not seem relaxed. She said a lot of the right things, but you just couldn't warm up to her.
Who have I missed?
Oh, Pence. What a wanker. Running on Trump's record of running up debt, saying what a great job they did, that the only problem in America was the wrong administration.
Let's not even talk about Asa Hutchinson. Whatever accomplishments he has are in the rearview mirror, he's running on yesteryear. And Tim Scott... Trying to be the voice of reason but losing credibility in the process. He was warmer than Haley, DeSantis and even Christie. But the longer he talked the more he appeared a tool of the party, anything but innovative. As for the governor of North Dakota? I'd have to look up his name. He wasn't ready for prime time, had trouble getting it out, can this guy, he doesn't deserve to be in the spotlight.
Which leaves us with Vivek Ramaswamy. We've been reading about his ascending poll numbers, tonight we got an upfront look. And now I understand it. In many ways, unfortunately not all, Vivek is running away from the rest of the candidates, he's a disrupter, just like in the tech world he comes from. Everybody else is parroting the past, your eyes could roll into the back of your head. But Vivek?
He said he was 38. Vivek automatically has the youth vote, because no one else is running in that lane, certainly no Republican. Vivek was fresh and energized in a way that neither Trump nor Biden is. Vivek was nimble. And if you're under the age of 50...you're sick and tired of old men telling you how to live your life without knowing the life you're living. Young people, and under 50 is in many ways young, well, at least under 40, live their lives online, they're digital natives. It's like growing up skiing as opposed to trying to learn when you're older. It's much easier when you're younger. You just know. But nobody in D.C. seems to know... About your smartphone, TikTok, everything you take for granted.
Vivek knows.
Even better, he rose above the rest by wanting to stop litigating the past and wanting to plan and govern for the future. This has been the problem for Republicans in D.C., they're the party of no, oftentimes they reject the Democrats' proffered legislation and offer nothing in return. As for the Freedom Caucus lunatics... It's a bad look, but one thing's for sure, their constituents are never going to vote for Biden, they're never going to vote for any Democrat.
So...
It was the same old thing, over and over, except for Haley and Ramaswamy. Who ended up looking like a breath of fresh air as a result. Is the Republican party ready for a South Asian president? Definitely. It fits with their ethos, then they can say they're not racist, that nothing is holding back minorities in America. Because Ramaswamy is one of them. Don't watch him and think he's a Democrat, he's anything but. When he said Donald Trump was the best president of the 21st century, it was like Hillary telling us her favorite book was the Bible. There's no way Ramaswamy believes this. Let's even start at a basic level. Everybody in tech knows Trump's anti-immigrant laws left too many geniuses outside of the country, where they ultimately built companies in their homelands, like India. These are not the people taking blue collar jobs. Rather these are the people who are pushing the envelope forward, like Ramaswamy himself. When Vivek pandered, I winced. This was undercutting his mission, his direction, to be the other, to be the choice, because in reality, other than the unelectable Haley, the rest of the men were exactly the same.
As for what they were saying, manna from heaven to dyed-in-the-wool Republicans, downright scary, if not laughable, to those who have not consumed the kool-aid. Vivek could run the ball right up the middle. With the youth vote, with the digital vote, but then he starts spewing some of the same damn crap, the tired talking points, and if you weren't already on the team, there was no way you'd join.
Bottom line is it was great that Trump was absent. He would have dominated. He doesn't believe in rules. Screw the one minute limit. He would have talked over people and...
Only Nikki spoke to Trump's policies, which was brave, because not everybody in the party agrees with them. You're never going to beat Trump being me-too, you've got to propose an alternative.
And the Fox interrogators... I've got to give them credit, they asked some tough questions, which DeSantis always avoided. But even young Republicans are worried about climate change. If you speak some semblance of truth, you could win.
Which is how Trump got elected in the first place. He ignored norms. Stopped doing what consultants say to. He knew his constituency better than they did. They'd been in the game too long to understand what was going on.
And this is a problem on the left too. Pussies. Schumer and Schiff... What does it take to get you pissed-off, to be a leader. You're like the kids who were elected to student government in high school. Irrelevant in the backwater while the football captain and the independent freak were leading and influencing. If you want us to follow, demonstrate you can lead, that you are not afraid, fight back...
So, let's hope the nobodies, the people who can't win, are weeded out. I'd like to see Vivek go one on one with Donald. Trump would be Foreman, flat-footed, depending on the strength of his punches. Ramaswamy would be Ali, nimble of foot and mind, employing the rope-a-dope.
It ain't over yet people.
But damn did it start too soon. Didn't we just do this?
I watched so you don't have to. Well, an hour anyway. I couldn't take any more, and I doubt the rest of the viewers could either.
And here's what I've got to tell you...
Chris Christie is toast. He's the Mike Bloomberg of the Republican party. A theoretical force until you see him on stage, where he seems to have lost a step. It's the same old crap plus a bunch of anti-Trump stuff that no one is listening to, so what's the point.
I don't know what is going on in Florida, but Mike DeSantis is not ready for the national stage, and probably won't ever be ready. Media-coached, he had one of the most fake smiles in history. You could see his brain working, to try and spread his lips, to show some teeth. It was out of "Mad" magazine or something. This guy is so cold and unlikable it's laughable. But he really lost all credibility when the candidates were asked to raise their hand if they felt climate change was real and he broke in unsolicited, with some cockamamie verbiage trying to forestall, hopefully eliminate completely, a yes or no decision. He was belligerent, the kind of guy who talks over you at a party. Who cares about climate change, this man's behavior was offensive, and evading the question by battling it, saying it's unnecessary to begin with, that was a bad look.
The surprise was Nikki Haley, who's basing her campaign on truth, the consequences of Trump's policies, the rise in the debt... Again and again Haley spoke truth, even saying there was no way in hell a federal abortion ban could be passed, because it would require 60 Republican senators, and that's impossible, at least in the near term. However, as good as Haley looked, as much as her smile appeared genuine, there was something stilted in her presentation, she did not seem relaxed. She said a lot of the right things, but you just couldn't warm up to her.
Who have I missed?
Oh, Pence. What a wanker. Running on Trump's record of running up debt, saying what a great job they did, that the only problem in America was the wrong administration.
Let's not even talk about Asa Hutchinson. Whatever accomplishments he has are in the rearview mirror, he's running on yesteryear. And Tim Scott... Trying to be the voice of reason but losing credibility in the process. He was warmer than Haley, DeSantis and even Christie. But the longer he talked the more he appeared a tool of the party, anything but innovative. As for the governor of North Dakota? I'd have to look up his name. He wasn't ready for prime time, had trouble getting it out, can this guy, he doesn't deserve to be in the spotlight.
Which leaves us with Vivek Ramaswamy. We've been reading about his ascending poll numbers, tonight we got an upfront look. And now I understand it. In many ways, unfortunately not all, Vivek is running away from the rest of the candidates, he's a disrupter, just like in the tech world he comes from. Everybody else is parroting the past, your eyes could roll into the back of your head. But Vivek?
He said he was 38. Vivek automatically has the youth vote, because no one else is running in that lane, certainly no Republican. Vivek was fresh and energized in a way that neither Trump nor Biden is. Vivek was nimble. And if you're under the age of 50...you're sick and tired of old men telling you how to live your life without knowing the life you're living. Young people, and under 50 is in many ways young, well, at least under 40, live their lives online, they're digital natives. It's like growing up skiing as opposed to trying to learn when you're older. It's much easier when you're younger. You just know. But nobody in D.C. seems to know... About your smartphone, TikTok, everything you take for granted.
Vivek knows.
Even better, he rose above the rest by wanting to stop litigating the past and wanting to plan and govern for the future. This has been the problem for Republicans in D.C., they're the party of no, oftentimes they reject the Democrats' proffered legislation and offer nothing in return. As for the Freedom Caucus lunatics... It's a bad look, but one thing's for sure, their constituents are never going to vote for Biden, they're never going to vote for any Democrat.
So...
It was the same old thing, over and over, except for Haley and Ramaswamy. Who ended up looking like a breath of fresh air as a result. Is the Republican party ready for a South Asian president? Definitely. It fits with their ethos, then they can say they're not racist, that nothing is holding back minorities in America. Because Ramaswamy is one of them. Don't watch him and think he's a Democrat, he's anything but. When he said Donald Trump was the best president of the 21st century, it was like Hillary telling us her favorite book was the Bible. There's no way Ramaswamy believes this. Let's even start at a basic level. Everybody in tech knows Trump's anti-immigrant laws left too many geniuses outside of the country, where they ultimately built companies in their homelands, like India. These are not the people taking blue collar jobs. Rather these are the people who are pushing the envelope forward, like Ramaswamy himself. When Vivek pandered, I winced. This was undercutting his mission, his direction, to be the other, to be the choice, because in reality, other than the unelectable Haley, the rest of the men were exactly the same.
As for what they were saying, manna from heaven to dyed-in-the-wool Republicans, downright scary, if not laughable, to those who have not consumed the kool-aid. Vivek could run the ball right up the middle. With the youth vote, with the digital vote, but then he starts spewing some of the same damn crap, the tired talking points, and if you weren't already on the team, there was no way you'd join.
Bottom line is it was great that Trump was absent. He would have dominated. He doesn't believe in rules. Screw the one minute limit. He would have talked over people and...
Only Nikki spoke to Trump's policies, which was brave, because not everybody in the party agrees with them. You're never going to beat Trump being me-too, you've got to propose an alternative.
And the Fox interrogators... I've got to give them credit, they asked some tough questions, which DeSantis always avoided. But even young Republicans are worried about climate change. If you speak some semblance of truth, you could win.
Which is how Trump got elected in the first place. He ignored norms. Stopped doing what consultants say to. He knew his constituency better than they did. They'd been in the game too long to understand what was going on.
And this is a problem on the left too. Pussies. Schumer and Schiff... What does it take to get you pissed-off, to be a leader. You're like the kids who were elected to student government in high school. Irrelevant in the backwater while the football captain and the independent freak were leading and influencing. If you want us to follow, demonstrate you can lead, that you are not afraid, fight back...
So, let's hope the nobodies, the people who can't win, are weeded out. I'd like to see Vivek go one on one with Donald. Trump would be Foreman, flat-footed, depending on the strength of his punches. Ramaswamy would be Ali, nimble of foot and mind, employing the rope-a-dope.
It ain't over yet people.
But damn did it start too soon. Didn't we just do this?
--
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--
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Tuesday 22 August 2023
Oliver Anthony/Rich Men North Of Richmond
WHAT WE'VE LEARNED
1. An independent is a Republican who doesn't want to be seen as such. Very few people in America are truly independent. They almost always vote one way or the other. But they don't want to be perceived as being beholden to a camp. Don't buy it. You're either a Republican or a Democrat, pick your side. As for the third party acolytes... Yeah, and unicorns are going to fly out of my butt.
2. In an incomprehensible music scene, mainstream media looks for a story, to define the landscape, to make sense of it all. Even though it makes no sense at all. "Rich Men North of Richmond" is a one shot, equivalent to shooting someone, a lot of news, and then nothing.
3. Hits are irrelevant, it's about careers. Call me next year, or the year after, when Oliver Anthony can sell out arenas.
4. The concept of the song is more important than the song itself. In other words, have you listened to this? Do you want to listen to it more than once? What we've got here is train-wreck value. Everybody has to check it out. And then they move on.
5. People do hunger for authenticity, something seen as honest and credible, in a world where they're constantly fed cartoons. Come on, have you listened to the Spotify Top 50? What you've got is people looking to get rich, who've smoothed off the rough edges, or are high concept outlaws... Today's hit music is akin to the WWE. About as real as wrestling.
6. Never underestimate the power of a guitar and a voice.
7. If this was about the music, Billy Bragg's answer song would be getting traction, but it's not. "Richmond" is a phenomenon driven by right wing press. Believing it is owning the libs when that is patently untrue. This is what happens when a ranking system is flawed. Sales far outweigh streams on the chart, even though streams are by far the dominant mode of consumption. So truth is not. Buying "Richmond" is akin to texting two dollars to Donald Trump, an emotional effort demonstrating your belief. And if money was everything, Ron DeSantis would be contending with Trump in the polls, and he's not.
8. There will be no Democratic response because the Democrats don't care. They've seen the movie, they know the right wing is insane, they'll vote, but they don't want to take the everyday bait. As far as a phenomenon like this on the left... The left is not a cult, not one homogeneous group that bands together to make a point. And that's a good thing. Because the left far outweighs the right in numbers. The right only triumphs because the game is rigged because of the Constitution, which they love so much and see no need to amend. Biden beat Trump by 7 million votes. But that's not how the president is picked, it's via the electoral college. Meaning only a handful of states count. The "Richmond' phenomenon is akin to those few states, the rest of us aren't paying attention and don't care.
9. They want you to be scared. That there's a creeping force that's going to come along and dominate. But it's a paper tiger. Don't buy the hype.
10. There are no taboos, you can criticize anybody and get away with it today. Their weight, their religion... Leaving a very small coterie that is immune. You think you're part of the club until you find out you're not. If you're white, Christian and self-sufficient, with enough money to get by, you're included. But if you're poor... You may think they want you, but they don't. You can vote Republican emotionally, but oftentimes it's against your best interests. And are you skinny and not taking any government aid? Look a little deeper, red states outweigh the blue in their amount of government aid. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
11. Just because Oliver Anthony made it, don't think you will. And don't think there are going to be a lot of Oliver Anthonys in the pipeline. One and done. An anomaly. A freak show. Kind of like Radiohead's name your own price with "In Rainbows." Do you remember who else tried this? Probably not, and none were successful.
12. Country music may lean right, but country music has made inroads because it contains all that pop/hip-hop do not, simple melodies and choruses that you can grasp and sing along to. As for the lyrics, so much is so bland that it doesn't matter anyway. Which is why everybody glommed on to this "Richmond" song to begin with. Trump set the paradigm and almost nobody seems to have noticed. People want someone with an edge, who doesn't triangulate, who speaks from the heart, in all walks of life. These are our heroes, whether they're on the right or the left. If you're honest and credible, and you put it out there and have talent, you have a much better chance than you do if you're imitating the hit du jour. Great players are a dime a dozen, just go on TikTok, where there are kids in the single digits who shred. And vocals? Come on, even those on TV contest shows can't make a dent. It's all about a je ne sais quoi, something special, that makes you different, that evidences who you really are, that triumphs. This is what is killing the movie business. Sure, some people want high concept superhero movies, but most of us don't, and until the movie business starts making films for the rest of us... But it won't, because the costs are too high and the odds are too low. It's a business. Yet when something is art you have a chance to triumph. If you want gritty reality go to streaming TV.
13. It's no longer about the hit, but the mass. This is why Netflix kills its competitors. All we hear about is balancing the books, that too much product is being made. But that's exactly why we subscribe, because of the plethora of material. With a constant flow of the new. It's like Amazon, it triumphs because it's got everything, and is dependable. If you haven't had problems with the MAX app, you're not using it.
14. Complaints. Us vs. them. How inspiring is that? We've been hearing this from the right ad infinitum. I mean if "Rich Men North of Richmond" makes you feel good, then you think someone is stealing your retro lifestyle that wasn't so good to begin with. The future only moves in one direction, forward. Progress is inevitable.
15. "Richmond" is specific about the losers and the losses, but the enemy, those men north of Richmond, who exactly are they? This song is laughable because we don't know who the enemy is. Call out the enemy. And the enemy is more right than left anyway. And how about the right to work states, sans unions. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
16. Low pay? Minimum wage is higher in the states north of Richmond. Miners? There aren't that many left and you'd be stunned how much energy is now produced by alternative methods.
17. Control? That's a pejorative on the right, FREEDOM! Last I checked it was the right that was controlling women's bodies, what we could read...and when it comes to taxes, the end result of their lowering, by Republicans, is the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer and...
18. In other words, the right wing cheerleaders who blew up this song are pulling the wool over the eyes of their somnambulant constituents, who are too dumb and too uninformed to know the facts, what the hell is going on.
19. This is not Lil Nas X. Who was built organically on social media and then blown up via manipulation, i.e. the kerfuffle that country radio wouldn't play "Old Town Road," which is infectious, unlike "Rich Men North of Richmond."
20. "Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters." If you want wisdom don't look to some ignorant reactionary punk south of Richmond, but someone who knows of what they speak, who is intelligent and can express themselves, who knows you've got to think for yourself. If Oliver Anthony is a leader...count me out. Count almost everybody out. Because this dude is too ignorant to follow.
21. Here today, gone tomorrow. That's what happened with Jason Aldean's song and that's what will happen with this song. Next!
P.S. It's all a front anyway, a posture with no backbone, did you see Kid Rock drinking Bud Light?
1. An independent is a Republican who doesn't want to be seen as such. Very few people in America are truly independent. They almost always vote one way or the other. But they don't want to be perceived as being beholden to a camp. Don't buy it. You're either a Republican or a Democrat, pick your side. As for the third party acolytes... Yeah, and unicorns are going to fly out of my butt.
2. In an incomprehensible music scene, mainstream media looks for a story, to define the landscape, to make sense of it all. Even though it makes no sense at all. "Rich Men North of Richmond" is a one shot, equivalent to shooting someone, a lot of news, and then nothing.
3. Hits are irrelevant, it's about careers. Call me next year, or the year after, when Oliver Anthony can sell out arenas.
4. The concept of the song is more important than the song itself. In other words, have you listened to this? Do you want to listen to it more than once? What we've got here is train-wreck value. Everybody has to check it out. And then they move on.
5. People do hunger for authenticity, something seen as honest and credible, in a world where they're constantly fed cartoons. Come on, have you listened to the Spotify Top 50? What you've got is people looking to get rich, who've smoothed off the rough edges, or are high concept outlaws... Today's hit music is akin to the WWE. About as real as wrestling.
6. Never underestimate the power of a guitar and a voice.
7. If this was about the music, Billy Bragg's answer song would be getting traction, but it's not. "Richmond" is a phenomenon driven by right wing press. Believing it is owning the libs when that is patently untrue. This is what happens when a ranking system is flawed. Sales far outweigh streams on the chart, even though streams are by far the dominant mode of consumption. So truth is not. Buying "Richmond" is akin to texting two dollars to Donald Trump, an emotional effort demonstrating your belief. And if money was everything, Ron DeSantis would be contending with Trump in the polls, and he's not.
8. There will be no Democratic response because the Democrats don't care. They've seen the movie, they know the right wing is insane, they'll vote, but they don't want to take the everyday bait. As far as a phenomenon like this on the left... The left is not a cult, not one homogeneous group that bands together to make a point. And that's a good thing. Because the left far outweighs the right in numbers. The right only triumphs because the game is rigged because of the Constitution, which they love so much and see no need to amend. Biden beat Trump by 7 million votes. But that's not how the president is picked, it's via the electoral college. Meaning only a handful of states count. The "Richmond' phenomenon is akin to those few states, the rest of us aren't paying attention and don't care.
9. They want you to be scared. That there's a creeping force that's going to come along and dominate. But it's a paper tiger. Don't buy the hype.
10. There are no taboos, you can criticize anybody and get away with it today. Their weight, their religion... Leaving a very small coterie that is immune. You think you're part of the club until you find out you're not. If you're white, Christian and self-sufficient, with enough money to get by, you're included. But if you're poor... You may think they want you, but they don't. You can vote Republican emotionally, but oftentimes it's against your best interests. And are you skinny and not taking any government aid? Look a little deeper, red states outweigh the blue in their amount of government aid. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
11. Just because Oliver Anthony made it, don't think you will. And don't think there are going to be a lot of Oliver Anthonys in the pipeline. One and done. An anomaly. A freak show. Kind of like Radiohead's name your own price with "In Rainbows." Do you remember who else tried this? Probably not, and none were successful.
12. Country music may lean right, but country music has made inroads because it contains all that pop/hip-hop do not, simple melodies and choruses that you can grasp and sing along to. As for the lyrics, so much is so bland that it doesn't matter anyway. Which is why everybody glommed on to this "Richmond" song to begin with. Trump set the paradigm and almost nobody seems to have noticed. People want someone with an edge, who doesn't triangulate, who speaks from the heart, in all walks of life. These are our heroes, whether they're on the right or the left. If you're honest and credible, and you put it out there and have talent, you have a much better chance than you do if you're imitating the hit du jour. Great players are a dime a dozen, just go on TikTok, where there are kids in the single digits who shred. And vocals? Come on, even those on TV contest shows can't make a dent. It's all about a je ne sais quoi, something special, that makes you different, that evidences who you really are, that triumphs. This is what is killing the movie business. Sure, some people want high concept superhero movies, but most of us don't, and until the movie business starts making films for the rest of us... But it won't, because the costs are too high and the odds are too low. It's a business. Yet when something is art you have a chance to triumph. If you want gritty reality go to streaming TV.
13. It's no longer about the hit, but the mass. This is why Netflix kills its competitors. All we hear about is balancing the books, that too much product is being made. But that's exactly why we subscribe, because of the plethora of material. With a constant flow of the new. It's like Amazon, it triumphs because it's got everything, and is dependable. If you haven't had problems with the MAX app, you're not using it.
14. Complaints. Us vs. them. How inspiring is that? We've been hearing this from the right ad infinitum. I mean if "Rich Men North of Richmond" makes you feel good, then you think someone is stealing your retro lifestyle that wasn't so good to begin with. The future only moves in one direction, forward. Progress is inevitable.
15. "Richmond" is specific about the losers and the losses, but the enemy, those men north of Richmond, who exactly are they? This song is laughable because we don't know who the enemy is. Call out the enemy. And the enemy is more right than left anyway. And how about the right to work states, sans unions. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
16. Low pay? Minimum wage is higher in the states north of Richmond. Miners? There aren't that many left and you'd be stunned how much energy is now produced by alternative methods.
17. Control? That's a pejorative on the right, FREEDOM! Last I checked it was the right that was controlling women's bodies, what we could read...and when it comes to taxes, the end result of their lowering, by Republicans, is the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer and...
18. In other words, the right wing cheerleaders who blew up this song are pulling the wool over the eyes of their somnambulant constituents, who are too dumb and too uninformed to know the facts, what the hell is going on.
19. This is not Lil Nas X. Who was built organically on social media and then blown up via manipulation, i.e. the kerfuffle that country radio wouldn't play "Old Town Road," which is infectious, unlike "Rich Men North of Richmond."
20. "Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters." If you want wisdom don't look to some ignorant reactionary punk south of Richmond, but someone who knows of what they speak, who is intelligent and can express themselves, who knows you've got to think for yourself. If Oliver Anthony is a leader...count me out. Count almost everybody out. Because this dude is too ignorant to follow.
21. Here today, gone tomorrow. That's what happened with Jason Aldean's song and that's what will happen with this song. Next!
P.S. It's all a front anyway, a posture with no backbone, did you see Kid Rock drinking Bud Light?
--
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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The ER
I was puking blood.
The good thing about being locked up for three years is I never got sick. But three weeks ago I went out four nights in a row. Two of those were outdoors. One was indoors, but there was a high ceiling and I was relatively alone. Another was at a restaurant sparsely attended. But after that outdoor gig at the Hollywood Bowl I went backstage and got in a long conversation with Jacob Collier and his team. This is what I do best, relate to artists. If I was a businessman I'd be rich, but I am not. I don't know how to get along like a bro, I don't know how to charge. But if you want to talk concepts, feelings, I'm your man. And a real artist specializes in those. And it was Jacob and his right hand guy from MIT and his manager Adam and a management team member from England and we were having a very fruitful conversation about AI and the possibilities. Jacob was talking about triggering, using AI to create music. It's all blue sky, there are legal issues, but instead of being defensive, saying no first, artists look forward, see every innovation as an interesting challenge, an opportunity.
So Jacob had just flown in from Asia. As had two of the aforementioned team members. And I think I got something from them. Because traveling musicians, they're sick all the time. I don't want to blame them, stuff happens, but everybody else I was with over those four nights is totally fine, and for three weeks now I've had a cough.
Hmm... No sore throat. No jag where I couldn't stop coughing. And then...
I'd just left my car for a hike in the mountains, this was Friday night, and my chest felt rough, scratchy. And I didn't have a beverage with me, but there was a water fountain about ten minutes ahead and I figured I'd stop there and partake and ultimately clear my throat.
But the cough wouldn't go away. So I decided to expectorate, you know, to clear the passageway.
And when I spit on the ground... I saw blood.
Not that thin stuff, you know, saliva with a bit of a tint. This was splotchy, and a deep crimson color.
But that was just once. My throat was clear now, right?
Well, I kept on coughing and expectorating and the same thing happened. Splotches of blood. Big ones.
This was after I'd turned around. After I'd Googled and found out coughing up blood was evidence of an infection, maybe pneumonia. I needed some expertise.
So I called my doctor and when I got to the part where you page him, I realized I'd better go home first, in case I needed to write something down, and that was only twenty minutes away, so there I went. And when I got home I paged my doctor, who got back to me right away. Yes, that's the attention I get. And I'm paying a hundred cents on the dollar. My internist went off insurance years ago, and then he stopped taking Medicare, but this was the guy who found my leukemia and...it's worth every penny.
So he called me back instantly, I described my symptoms, and he asked me what I thought.
I said I thought I should probably take an antibiotic.
He wasn't so sure. He thought I needed to be seen. He thought I shouldn't be cavalier about this.
Now the weird thing about turning seventy, and that is the age I am, even though I feel about fifty years younger, is you realize you're gonna die. You can fight aging, but you're never going to win the battle. You can lie to yourself, get plastic surgery, hang with young 'uns, lie about your age, but inside you can see the end coming. And it's very weird, because so much of what used to have meaning no longer does. And that's exacerbated by the Internet era, where everything is Balkanized, where there really is no chart and you're not sure where you really stand. You're alone. Even worse, your contemporaries, so many of them have already retired, they've retreated, they're living a life of leisure. And they're focused on their grandkids. I've got no kids, never mind grandkids, and there's still so much I want to accomplish, but time is running out. Christine McVie didn't even make eighty. And Robbie Robertson just barely did. And then there was that guy who went to the hospital, they found out he had pneumonia, and right thereafter he died.
I didn't want that to be me. But it could be.
So my internist gave me two options. I could go to Sollis or the ER.
Sollis? I'd never heard of it. What it is is concierge ER. They see you immediately, they triage the situation, get you additional treatment if you need it, get a bed for you in the hospital. And my doctor thought I might need that, a bed in the hospital, or oxygen, he was scared by my cough.
But you've got to join Sollis. But my doctor said the first visit could count. He wasn't sure of the cost, he thought it was five grand. Turns out it's six grand. And that was just too rich for my blood. And this was the first time I wished I had more money. Made more money. Because when it comes to your health, you don't want any limits, you want the best and you want it now. As the Eagles sang, the doctor says he's coming, but you've got to pay in cash. It's good to have that cash.
But if I might need to be admitted to the hospital anyway, why not start off at the hospital? My doctor recommended St. John's, which is in Santa Monica.
So I shaved and showered. On one hand time was of the essence, on another if I was stinky and...
I was planning to go alone. Because the ER can be interminable. But Felice insisted on coming with me. Which I felt guilty about, but like I just said, she insisted.
And in case you haven't been to the ER recently, they prioritize. If you come in profusely bleeding, or if you come in an ambulance after being in a car accident, they see you right away. But if time isn't of the absolute essence, if your condition is not life and death, you may continue to be bumped down, it could take hours to be seen.
But it didn't seem that busy in the waiting room. And no one looked incredibly sick. Then again, after about an hour someone came in with suitcases, and another with oxygen, so I read my book and did the Saturday "Times" puzzle on my phone. I never do it, I don't have the patience and I'm not good at it, but I astounded myself by actually filling up about thirty percent. Well, maybe twenty five percent.
And then they called me in.
After three hours.
And now I had to give my spiel. I like to make it detailed but short. You want to give all the information, clearly, with nothing extraneous. And you've got to talk about extenuating circumstances, like I'm immune-compromised, because I got a Rituxan infusion for my pemphigus and it wiped out all my B-cells. This is another reason my doctor wanted me to go to the ER.
But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that as soon as I was lying on the bed, talking to the doctor, I felt like I wasn't entitled, that what I had was no big deal. Then again, I'd already put in three hours.
Did you know they've got a portable x-ray machine now? They wheel it up to your bed, shoot pictures, and you wait for the results. They said it would be at least an hour, but the analysis came in about thirty minutes later. It said:
"IMPRESSION: No definite acute process. A small amount of left lower lobe pneumonia cannot be completely excluded, exam limited by portable technique."
So now we needed to do a CT scan.
Now when you're lying there, it's like you don't exist. It's like a club of doctors and nurses and they all hang in this office in the middle and they're having a rollicking good time and even if you yell, they usually don't hear you. And I didn't want to be pushy, but I'd been holding it in for hours, I needed to pee.
So when one of the maintenance people went by, I told them and they got a nurse and I was disconnected from the wires and I went to the bathroom and...
Now I've seen worse at port-a-potties. At airports. But this was a hospital. Go to In-N-Out and they're cleaning the toilets regularly. Even in the gas stations you fill up at in the desert. This is their calling card. But at the hospital?
Since I was disconnected and up, I figured I'd give #2 a try. But there was no way.
So I walked around the building, looking for another lavatory, and eventually I found one and I'd like to tell you it was clean, it wasn't, but it was cleaner, so I did my business and on my way back, I poked my head into the bullpen, the office, and they freaked out! I just wanted to know when I was going to get my CT scan. It was 2:30 in the morning already. The two people in the beds next to me were close to death, at least they looked that way. They were now asleep. Both very aged. No one seemed to be worried about them. But me?
And I'm thinking I'm young, but I'm aged too, just not that aged.
So I go back to my bed and within half an hour they came and started rolling me around, on the way to the picture room. And this is when I really started to feel weird, like I wanted to get out of there.
What I didn't mention is I've had the negative experience a number of times. You know, what is a routine test is not. And the doctor looks grave and they start to take action and your head spins and you settle into passivity, being wheeled around the hospital is part of the experience, you almost enjoy it. But in this case, I wanted to jump up and leave, I didn't want to be considered sick. But I'd invested so much.
So they took the pictures and I started to wait again.
I had the scan just before 3 A.M., and then it was 4, and then it was approaching 5... I was getting itchy. But like I said, I'd invested so much time.
Now I forgot to mention, that those results that came in early... I got them on my phone. It's really pretty amazing. St. John's is a Providence hospital, but UCLA and Cedars have these apps too. You get the results as soon as they're in, oftentimes before the doctor sees you, and this can be scary. But the CT scan was not showing up.
And then, at 4:55 AM, the ER doctor came to consult with me. The CT scan had shown nothing... Well, it did show calcification of the heart, but I already knew that. Rust never sleeps. You're fighting deterioration 24/7. Go to the doctor, face the music, accept the process, or be ignorant and die.
So...
It could be pneumonia. Or it could be bronchitis. You can cough up blood with bronchitis. But just to be sure I should take an antibiotic.
And after eight hours at St. John's, we got in the car and left. At 5 A.M. Thankfully before the sun came up. Because if you're a late night person you know there's nothing so depressing as the sun coming up, you want to lay your head down before that happens.
And I got to be about a quarter to six and...
I wanted to forget the whole damn thing. Make like it didn't happen. Because otherwise I'd get angry and frustrated and there was no upside to that.
And I woke up to e-mail from my internist asking for a report, the data had not shown up for him.
I told him I was going to take a Z-pak.
He told me if the cough persisted there were things he could prescribe. Steroids... There were about four.
And then I decided I was not going to leave the house. Screw hiking, I was wiping the decks clean. Because it's like Covid, not such a big deal if you're young, but if you're old, it's a really big deal. What seems minor could kill you. We always think we'll bounce back, but that's not always true.
And now I'll hear from those people telling me Covid is serious, and coming back. As if I live in a rat hole and know nothing. And this will lead to the antivaxxers, which I completely don't understand. Did you ever get into a discussion with these people? They start citing facts that are easily disprovable online. If you paid attention you know that the mRNA vaccines were not new, they'd been created over years, it's just now they had a use, for Covid. But I keep hearing people telling me they were rushed. That it was too new. And then about all the people who died. Well I know plenty of people who died, but they didn't get vaccinated. Which way do you want to have it? I've got to ask you, do you feel lucky, punk?
And believe me, when you're in the hospital dying you'll want everything they can throw at you. You won't be calling your healer, your naturopath, you'll want some of those western drugs. Oh no, Big Pharma is the enemy! And doctors just want to run up the bill!
Of course Big Pharma is flawed. And there are stories of doctors over-prescribing on a regular basis, doing unnecessary surgery. But do you throw the baby out with the bathwater?
I'm not arguing with you. It's your choice. Do what you want. But know your odds of a long happy life are better if you go to the doctor, get the tests, get the immunizations. Then again, statistics tell us the wealthier live longer, because they get better health care.
Bingo.
This is one area where you don't want to skimp. Then again, maybe you don't have enough money to get the best care. That's another feature of America, everybody's on their own.
And I've got to tell you, at five in the morning Sollis looked pretty good. I still couldn't rationalize it, I mean when was the last time I was in the ER? But maybe next time it will be more serious.
So I'm laying low, my cough is a bit better. But who knows?
I certainly don't, but I don't want to chase the dragon, I don't want to test the limits, I don't want to burn the candle on both ends. Because when you're older it can catch up with you.
Then again, thinking about it Friday night, I decided I cannot become gun-shy, I cannot stop doing things for fear I might get hurt. If you're not living life to the fullest, why live?
And the weirdest thing is as I was getting ready to go to the hospital, scared, I realized if I did die, I'd lived a good life. Maybe I'd die before my time, but how much could I complain? Then again, my father died at seventy, from the Big C. I wonder what was going through his mind?
I'm now at that age. Both of my parents are gone. Which means I'm next.
When it's going to happen I am not sure. But I want to do my best to push it as far into the future as possible.
The good thing about being locked up for three years is I never got sick. But three weeks ago I went out four nights in a row. Two of those were outdoors. One was indoors, but there was a high ceiling and I was relatively alone. Another was at a restaurant sparsely attended. But after that outdoor gig at the Hollywood Bowl I went backstage and got in a long conversation with Jacob Collier and his team. This is what I do best, relate to artists. If I was a businessman I'd be rich, but I am not. I don't know how to get along like a bro, I don't know how to charge. But if you want to talk concepts, feelings, I'm your man. And a real artist specializes in those. And it was Jacob and his right hand guy from MIT and his manager Adam and a management team member from England and we were having a very fruitful conversation about AI and the possibilities. Jacob was talking about triggering, using AI to create music. It's all blue sky, there are legal issues, but instead of being defensive, saying no first, artists look forward, see every innovation as an interesting challenge, an opportunity.
So Jacob had just flown in from Asia. As had two of the aforementioned team members. And I think I got something from them. Because traveling musicians, they're sick all the time. I don't want to blame them, stuff happens, but everybody else I was with over those four nights is totally fine, and for three weeks now I've had a cough.
Hmm... No sore throat. No jag where I couldn't stop coughing. And then...
I'd just left my car for a hike in the mountains, this was Friday night, and my chest felt rough, scratchy. And I didn't have a beverage with me, but there was a water fountain about ten minutes ahead and I figured I'd stop there and partake and ultimately clear my throat.
But the cough wouldn't go away. So I decided to expectorate, you know, to clear the passageway.
And when I spit on the ground... I saw blood.
Not that thin stuff, you know, saliva with a bit of a tint. This was splotchy, and a deep crimson color.
But that was just once. My throat was clear now, right?
Well, I kept on coughing and expectorating and the same thing happened. Splotches of blood. Big ones.
This was after I'd turned around. After I'd Googled and found out coughing up blood was evidence of an infection, maybe pneumonia. I needed some expertise.
So I called my doctor and when I got to the part where you page him, I realized I'd better go home first, in case I needed to write something down, and that was only twenty minutes away, so there I went. And when I got home I paged my doctor, who got back to me right away. Yes, that's the attention I get. And I'm paying a hundred cents on the dollar. My internist went off insurance years ago, and then he stopped taking Medicare, but this was the guy who found my leukemia and...it's worth every penny.
So he called me back instantly, I described my symptoms, and he asked me what I thought.
I said I thought I should probably take an antibiotic.
He wasn't so sure. He thought I needed to be seen. He thought I shouldn't be cavalier about this.
Now the weird thing about turning seventy, and that is the age I am, even though I feel about fifty years younger, is you realize you're gonna die. You can fight aging, but you're never going to win the battle. You can lie to yourself, get plastic surgery, hang with young 'uns, lie about your age, but inside you can see the end coming. And it's very weird, because so much of what used to have meaning no longer does. And that's exacerbated by the Internet era, where everything is Balkanized, where there really is no chart and you're not sure where you really stand. You're alone. Even worse, your contemporaries, so many of them have already retired, they've retreated, they're living a life of leisure. And they're focused on their grandkids. I've got no kids, never mind grandkids, and there's still so much I want to accomplish, but time is running out. Christine McVie didn't even make eighty. And Robbie Robertson just barely did. And then there was that guy who went to the hospital, they found out he had pneumonia, and right thereafter he died.
I didn't want that to be me. But it could be.
So my internist gave me two options. I could go to Sollis or the ER.
Sollis? I'd never heard of it. What it is is concierge ER. They see you immediately, they triage the situation, get you additional treatment if you need it, get a bed for you in the hospital. And my doctor thought I might need that, a bed in the hospital, or oxygen, he was scared by my cough.
But you've got to join Sollis. But my doctor said the first visit could count. He wasn't sure of the cost, he thought it was five grand. Turns out it's six grand. And that was just too rich for my blood. And this was the first time I wished I had more money. Made more money. Because when it comes to your health, you don't want any limits, you want the best and you want it now. As the Eagles sang, the doctor says he's coming, but you've got to pay in cash. It's good to have that cash.
But if I might need to be admitted to the hospital anyway, why not start off at the hospital? My doctor recommended St. John's, which is in Santa Monica.
So I shaved and showered. On one hand time was of the essence, on another if I was stinky and...
I was planning to go alone. Because the ER can be interminable. But Felice insisted on coming with me. Which I felt guilty about, but like I just said, she insisted.
And in case you haven't been to the ER recently, they prioritize. If you come in profusely bleeding, or if you come in an ambulance after being in a car accident, they see you right away. But if time isn't of the absolute essence, if your condition is not life and death, you may continue to be bumped down, it could take hours to be seen.
But it didn't seem that busy in the waiting room. And no one looked incredibly sick. Then again, after about an hour someone came in with suitcases, and another with oxygen, so I read my book and did the Saturday "Times" puzzle on my phone. I never do it, I don't have the patience and I'm not good at it, but I astounded myself by actually filling up about thirty percent. Well, maybe twenty five percent.
And then they called me in.
After three hours.
And now I had to give my spiel. I like to make it detailed but short. You want to give all the information, clearly, with nothing extraneous. And you've got to talk about extenuating circumstances, like I'm immune-compromised, because I got a Rituxan infusion for my pemphigus and it wiped out all my B-cells. This is another reason my doctor wanted me to go to the ER.
But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that as soon as I was lying on the bed, talking to the doctor, I felt like I wasn't entitled, that what I had was no big deal. Then again, I'd already put in three hours.
Did you know they've got a portable x-ray machine now? They wheel it up to your bed, shoot pictures, and you wait for the results. They said it would be at least an hour, but the analysis came in about thirty minutes later. It said:
"IMPRESSION: No definite acute process. A small amount of left lower lobe pneumonia cannot be completely excluded, exam limited by portable technique."
So now we needed to do a CT scan.
Now when you're lying there, it's like you don't exist. It's like a club of doctors and nurses and they all hang in this office in the middle and they're having a rollicking good time and even if you yell, they usually don't hear you. And I didn't want to be pushy, but I'd been holding it in for hours, I needed to pee.
So when one of the maintenance people went by, I told them and they got a nurse and I was disconnected from the wires and I went to the bathroom and...
Now I've seen worse at port-a-potties. At airports. But this was a hospital. Go to In-N-Out and they're cleaning the toilets regularly. Even in the gas stations you fill up at in the desert. This is their calling card. But at the hospital?
Since I was disconnected and up, I figured I'd give #2 a try. But there was no way.
So I walked around the building, looking for another lavatory, and eventually I found one and I'd like to tell you it was clean, it wasn't, but it was cleaner, so I did my business and on my way back, I poked my head into the bullpen, the office, and they freaked out! I just wanted to know when I was going to get my CT scan. It was 2:30 in the morning already. The two people in the beds next to me were close to death, at least they looked that way. They were now asleep. Both very aged. No one seemed to be worried about them. But me?
And I'm thinking I'm young, but I'm aged too, just not that aged.
So I go back to my bed and within half an hour they came and started rolling me around, on the way to the picture room. And this is when I really started to feel weird, like I wanted to get out of there.
What I didn't mention is I've had the negative experience a number of times. You know, what is a routine test is not. And the doctor looks grave and they start to take action and your head spins and you settle into passivity, being wheeled around the hospital is part of the experience, you almost enjoy it. But in this case, I wanted to jump up and leave, I didn't want to be considered sick. But I'd invested so much.
So they took the pictures and I started to wait again.
I had the scan just before 3 A.M., and then it was 4, and then it was approaching 5... I was getting itchy. But like I said, I'd invested so much time.
Now I forgot to mention, that those results that came in early... I got them on my phone. It's really pretty amazing. St. John's is a Providence hospital, but UCLA and Cedars have these apps too. You get the results as soon as they're in, oftentimes before the doctor sees you, and this can be scary. But the CT scan was not showing up.
And then, at 4:55 AM, the ER doctor came to consult with me. The CT scan had shown nothing... Well, it did show calcification of the heart, but I already knew that. Rust never sleeps. You're fighting deterioration 24/7. Go to the doctor, face the music, accept the process, or be ignorant and die.
So...
It could be pneumonia. Or it could be bronchitis. You can cough up blood with bronchitis. But just to be sure I should take an antibiotic.
And after eight hours at St. John's, we got in the car and left. At 5 A.M. Thankfully before the sun came up. Because if you're a late night person you know there's nothing so depressing as the sun coming up, you want to lay your head down before that happens.
And I got to be about a quarter to six and...
I wanted to forget the whole damn thing. Make like it didn't happen. Because otherwise I'd get angry and frustrated and there was no upside to that.
And I woke up to e-mail from my internist asking for a report, the data had not shown up for him.
I told him I was going to take a Z-pak.
He told me if the cough persisted there were things he could prescribe. Steroids... There were about four.
And then I decided I was not going to leave the house. Screw hiking, I was wiping the decks clean. Because it's like Covid, not such a big deal if you're young, but if you're old, it's a really big deal. What seems minor could kill you. We always think we'll bounce back, but that's not always true.
And now I'll hear from those people telling me Covid is serious, and coming back. As if I live in a rat hole and know nothing. And this will lead to the antivaxxers, which I completely don't understand. Did you ever get into a discussion with these people? They start citing facts that are easily disprovable online. If you paid attention you know that the mRNA vaccines were not new, they'd been created over years, it's just now they had a use, for Covid. But I keep hearing people telling me they were rushed. That it was too new. And then about all the people who died. Well I know plenty of people who died, but they didn't get vaccinated. Which way do you want to have it? I've got to ask you, do you feel lucky, punk?
And believe me, when you're in the hospital dying you'll want everything they can throw at you. You won't be calling your healer, your naturopath, you'll want some of those western drugs. Oh no, Big Pharma is the enemy! And doctors just want to run up the bill!
Of course Big Pharma is flawed. And there are stories of doctors over-prescribing on a regular basis, doing unnecessary surgery. But do you throw the baby out with the bathwater?
I'm not arguing with you. It's your choice. Do what you want. But know your odds of a long happy life are better if you go to the doctor, get the tests, get the immunizations. Then again, statistics tell us the wealthier live longer, because they get better health care.
Bingo.
This is one area where you don't want to skimp. Then again, maybe you don't have enough money to get the best care. That's another feature of America, everybody's on their own.
And I've got to tell you, at five in the morning Sollis looked pretty good. I still couldn't rationalize it, I mean when was the last time I was in the ER? But maybe next time it will be more serious.
So I'm laying low, my cough is a bit better. But who knows?
I certainly don't, but I don't want to chase the dragon, I don't want to test the limits, I don't want to burn the candle on both ends. Because when you're older it can catch up with you.
Then again, thinking about it Friday night, I decided I cannot become gun-shy, I cannot stop doing things for fear I might get hurt. If you're not living life to the fullest, why live?
And the weirdest thing is as I was getting ready to go to the hospital, scared, I realized if I did die, I'd lived a good life. Maybe I'd die before my time, but how much could I complain? Then again, my father died at seventy, from the Big C. I wonder what was going through his mind?
I'm now at that age. Both of my parents are gone. Which means I'm next.
When it's going to happen I am not sure. But I want to do my best to push it as far into the future as possible.
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Sunday 20 August 2023
San Francisco Sounds-A Place In Time
Trailer: https://tinyurl.com/dfft5d48
I watched this two-part series about a month ago, and didn't write about it then because no one would know what I was talking about. Kind of like when I wrote about "Hamilton" before the mania hit. There's a delay. Even worse, this two-part series premieres tonight on MGM+, the streaming service formerly known as Epix, and how many people have a subscription to that? Ultimately, it will be available elsewhere, but the buzz will be gone, and sans buzz will it ever be seen?
So what you've got here is a maybe to be forgotten production about a fading era.
This is very strange for those of us who lived through it. Kind of like the Deadheads of today, whose knowledge seems to start with 1970's "Workingman's Dead." But before that there was a journey into the universe, an exploration, yet what about the rest of the San Francisco bands? Like the Charlatans?
Completely forgotten.
The Charlatans were fronted by Dan Hicks, who ultimately had success in the early seventies with his band the Hot Licks. There was "Canned Music" and "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)." But even more there was "I Scare Myself," with Sid Page's violin.
Here, check it out, and you should:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/7zcu2chp
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/yc6u9b79
Listening today you'll hear a roughness we didn't experience back in 1972, when it was released. You see back then it wasn't about perfection, but a feeling, an essence. The music was not bulletproof, it connected on a soulful level, it lived and breathed, which is why we embraced it.
Like the Grateful Dead themselves. Who might have been the roughest of them all, even into the seventies. "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty" were anomalies. Mostly the band was one of experimentation, trying to find a groove that would hook the audience and lift the assembled multitude.
Now the funny thing is the pre-1970 San Francisco music scene is being forgotten. Back then there was almost no information. And there were few hits. The Dead had none. Nor Dan Hicks. The Jefferson Airplane broke through on "Surrealistic Pillow" with "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," but Quicksilver Messenger Service never had a hit. And it wasn't until the seventies that Steve Miller became ubiquitous.
Now by time you hit the seventies, there's music on TV, and tons of press, and that era remains alive. So the second episode of this production is less enticing, but the first...
There were no influencers, there was no social media, everything was positively local. And Grace Slick was two-dimensional, all you knew about her was her songs. Which made her even more iconic. Because you filled in the blanks yourself.
And Janis Joplin... Her backstory has faded, but even creepier, her music has faded. At this point, Joplin is mostly remembered for her rendition of "Me and Bobby McGhee," if she's remembered at all. But that first Big Brother album, "Cheap Thrills"... That was not background music. You listened to that record and wanted to get closer. Which is why you went to San Francisco, you wanted more of this.
Now this experimental ethos in music was superseded by the experimental ethos in tech, ironically also from the Bay Area. Used to be California was a different country, three hours behind. Cut loose from the east coast. A place where anything went. Today they say that's Florida, but nothing could be further from the truth. Florida is about retro hedonism. Sure, there are a lot of loose nuts and bolts, but California has always been about moving forward, pushing the envelope, this is where Chuck Yeager made his sound-barrier breaking flights.
Yeager was made famous by Tom Wolfe, by his inclusion in "The Right Stuff," which they even made into a movie. But the piece-de-resistance of Wolfe's nonfiction output came earlier, in 1968, with "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," the story of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. This was required reading for the college student of the seventies. This was inspirational. Here were a bunch of people rejecting conventional society, making fun of people who rarely got the joke.
So, Jerry Garcia is dead. Tom Wolfe too. When I talked to Dan Hicks in the nineties he was burned out, still singing for his supper, after all these were not people with IRAs, but living in the now.
And not only are so many of the musicians gone, now their audience is disappearing too. And their stories with them. This won't happen to the modern era, everything is digitized, at your fingertips, but before that...
I highly recommend the first episode of this series. And if you're younger than forty, stick around for the second too, it will be new to you.
But mostly the series bummed me out. Because I'd been there and done that and seemingly everybody has moved on from there. Warmongers employ the peace sign. Groupthink is prevalent.
But once upon a time it was all about being an individual, on your own trip. That was what the sixties in San Francisco were all about.
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I watched this two-part series about a month ago, and didn't write about it then because no one would know what I was talking about. Kind of like when I wrote about "Hamilton" before the mania hit. There's a delay. Even worse, this two-part series premieres tonight on MGM+, the streaming service formerly known as Epix, and how many people have a subscription to that? Ultimately, it will be available elsewhere, but the buzz will be gone, and sans buzz will it ever be seen?
So what you've got here is a maybe to be forgotten production about a fading era.
This is very strange for those of us who lived through it. Kind of like the Deadheads of today, whose knowledge seems to start with 1970's "Workingman's Dead." But before that there was a journey into the universe, an exploration, yet what about the rest of the San Francisco bands? Like the Charlatans?
Completely forgotten.
The Charlatans were fronted by Dan Hicks, who ultimately had success in the early seventies with his band the Hot Licks. There was "Canned Music" and "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)." But even more there was "I Scare Myself," with Sid Page's violin.
Here, check it out, and you should:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/7zcu2chp
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/yc6u9b79
Listening today you'll hear a roughness we didn't experience back in 1972, when it was released. You see back then it wasn't about perfection, but a feeling, an essence. The music was not bulletproof, it connected on a soulful level, it lived and breathed, which is why we embraced it.
Like the Grateful Dead themselves. Who might have been the roughest of them all, even into the seventies. "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty" were anomalies. Mostly the band was one of experimentation, trying to find a groove that would hook the audience and lift the assembled multitude.
Now the funny thing is the pre-1970 San Francisco music scene is being forgotten. Back then there was almost no information. And there were few hits. The Dead had none. Nor Dan Hicks. The Jefferson Airplane broke through on "Surrealistic Pillow" with "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," but Quicksilver Messenger Service never had a hit. And it wasn't until the seventies that Steve Miller became ubiquitous.
Now by time you hit the seventies, there's music on TV, and tons of press, and that era remains alive. So the second episode of this production is less enticing, but the first...
There were no influencers, there was no social media, everything was positively local. And Grace Slick was two-dimensional, all you knew about her was her songs. Which made her even more iconic. Because you filled in the blanks yourself.
And Janis Joplin... Her backstory has faded, but even creepier, her music has faded. At this point, Joplin is mostly remembered for her rendition of "Me and Bobby McGhee," if she's remembered at all. But that first Big Brother album, "Cheap Thrills"... That was not background music. You listened to that record and wanted to get closer. Which is why you went to San Francisco, you wanted more of this.
Now this experimental ethos in music was superseded by the experimental ethos in tech, ironically also from the Bay Area. Used to be California was a different country, three hours behind. Cut loose from the east coast. A place where anything went. Today they say that's Florida, but nothing could be further from the truth. Florida is about retro hedonism. Sure, there are a lot of loose nuts and bolts, but California has always been about moving forward, pushing the envelope, this is where Chuck Yeager made his sound-barrier breaking flights.
Yeager was made famous by Tom Wolfe, by his inclusion in "The Right Stuff," which they even made into a movie. But the piece-de-resistance of Wolfe's nonfiction output came earlier, in 1968, with "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," the story of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. This was required reading for the college student of the seventies. This was inspirational. Here were a bunch of people rejecting conventional society, making fun of people who rarely got the joke.
So, Jerry Garcia is dead. Tom Wolfe too. When I talked to Dan Hicks in the nineties he was burned out, still singing for his supper, after all these were not people with IRAs, but living in the now.
And not only are so many of the musicians gone, now their audience is disappearing too. And their stories with them. This won't happen to the modern era, everything is digitized, at your fingertips, but before that...
I highly recommend the first episode of this series. And if you're younger than forty, stick around for the second too, it will be new to you.
But mostly the series bummed me out. Because I'd been there and done that and seemingly everybody has moved on from there. Warmongers employ the peace sign. Groupthink is prevalent.
But once upon a time it was all about being an individual, on your own trip. That was what the sixties in San Francisco were all about.
--
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,
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