Do not buy an iPhone 15.
But you might want to buy an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max.
The war is over. Apple won. It vanquished Android.
HUH? That can't be right, wasn't Android supposed to kill the iPhone, wasn't it only a matter of years before the overpriced Apple product was marginalized, a niche, only for the elite? Yes, that's what you'd think, but it turned out all the prognosticators, all the bloviators, were wrong.
It's in the data.
Five years ago, the iPhone had 18% of the U.S. market. Today it has 55%. There are two reasons, iMessage and longevity of functionality/resale value.
You don't want to be the owner of a green bubble. Oh, oldsters may not care, but if you're a youngster it's a cultural faux pas that will immediately have you losing status at the high school. You must have a blue bubble, your life depends upon it.
And then there's the resale value. iPhones hold it, Androids do not. An iPhone typically has three owners, an Android leaves the store and loses a ton of value and goes down to near zero nearly overnight. Apple supports old iPhones, good look with your couple of year old Android.
And it's not only the U.S. In South Korea, 52% of those 18-29 use an iPhone.
We don't need to debate functionality, we don't need to talk about the Apple haters. It's an incredible story, unforeseen. A premium-priced product dominates, Apple is about to eclipse the sales of the number one Android provider, Samsung.
So which one should you buy?
Well, you don't want the iPhone 15 because it's essentially the iPhone 14 Pro. It has last year's chip, the A16 Bionic, and it only has two camera lenses instead of three. If you're worried about status, this is important (but in truth, phones are fungible and nearly indistinguishable when it comes to cosmetics today).
No, you want an iPhone 15 Pro. It's got the new chip, the A17 Bionic, and better cameras and a titanium case, which you don't care about in theory, but in truth it means the phone is lighter, and that's important, the iPhone has gotten far too heavy in its recent iterations.
But Bob, I can save $200 by buying the iPhone 15 instead of the 15 Pro, money means something to me!
But that is shortsighted.
First and foremost, it's not really $200, it's $100, because the cheapest iPhone 15 has 128GB of storage and the Pro has 256GB, and with everybody shooting so many photos, you don't want to run out of space.
But the truth is these phones have a lifespan, and by buying last year's model, which the iPhone 15 essentially is, you're losing a year of functionality, you're going to have to replace it a year earlier, so why not lay out the extra money to live large now, knowing that it will be a wash when it comes to trade-in time?
As for whether you should get a new iPhone...
If you have an 8 or a X, definitely. iOS17 will not work on these devices. Apple says it will continue to support them with security updates, which is crucial, but that won't be forever, and then you'll need a new phone in a year or two, which might be even more expensive, why not live large now, why not live in the present now? Sans iOS17 you're going to lose functionality. You think your phone is good enough, but then you'll want to do something and you won't be able to, because of compatibility issues. You do not live in a vacuum, in the pre-internet era, we are all connected, and you want to be able to connect fully. Upgrade.
Do you need an iPhone 15 Pro if you have a 14 or 13? No, unless you want one. Used to be you got a new iPhone and were wowed by the speed, the new chip made a huge difference. Those days are gone, the improvements are incremental. Stay with what you've got, wait another year or two.
But what if your old iPhone is running out of juice too fast?
These batteries start to fade. Within a year even. If your iPhone is fine, but there's an issue with battery life, just buy a new battery and it will be like new, you can get out the door for under a hundred bucks, either at the Apple Store or at a third-party provider. Your phone won't run any faster, but it will continue to run.
So which Pro model should you buy?
First and foremost, the Pro Max has a longer battery life, and that might be significant to you.
However, the Pro Max is much larger, it doesn't fit in your hand as easily. I like the larger phone, I love the extra screen real estate. But if it's uncomfortable in your hand, you might want to go for the smaller option. Don't make the decision to go small on a whim, go to the Apple Store and hold both devices, you'll know.
Now it used to be the Pro and Pro Max iterations had different cameras. But then they had the same cameras, but now they have different cameras again. The Pro Max has a better telephoto... If you're a casual shooter, ultimately it's not that important, nice, but not necessary. Bottom line, if you need a Pro Max for the camera you already know. As for the photos themselves, for the last few years the Pro versions of the iPhone have created spectacular images. Throw away your point and shoot, the iPhone takes a much better picture.
Also, keep in mind the modern phones squeeze more pixels, more screen real estate, into the glass, borders are smaller. So a small phone, the iPhone 15 Pro, might be enough, but if you're spending that much, why not go for the best?
Buy a bumper, a case. And I'm going to be a heretic and say buy an Apple case. They're much more expensive, but far superior. Every year I get the silicone case for fifty bucks and not once have I ever damaged my phone, not once! And believe me, I've dropped it on pavement... Lay down, your phone won't break. As for screen protectors, what a joke. The glass is incredibly sturdy, adding a screen protector just decreases functionality.
As for where you should buy your new iPhone...
If you are switching carriers, you're in luck, the offers are stupendous the market is saturated and it's hard for the three major providers, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, to get new customers. And as a result of this, they want to entice you to stay. But beware! The devil is in the details. They might say the phone is free, but really it's not, those days of free phones are in the deep past. You'll have to commit for 30 months to a plan that might be more expensive than the one you've got now. The iPhone might look free, but the cost is just baked-in to the aforementioned 30 payments.
However, having said that, the three major providers give you a few more bucks in trade than Apple. But don't be wowed by the huge numbers, $800 for your old iPhone. In truth, that's for last year's top of the line, maxed out. Chances are your phone will be worth less than a hundred bucks, but it's worth something, and money is money.
But Apple is such a better buying experience. If you need to talk with someone they are knowledgeable, and there are no tricks and the company is not out to screw you. (If you want to cancel AppleTV+, you just slide a button in the settings of your phone. If only the rest of the streamers were so easy.)
I could talk about locked and unlocked, but really you don't need to know, it's irrelevant to almost everybody, and if it's important to you you're already fully-versed in the details.
As for USB-C... Never has so much ink been spread about something so trivial. Macs have been USB-C since 2016. Sure, you'll have to toss your Lightning cables, but a new USB-C cable comes in the box anyway. As for the brick...
Apple stopped providing them in the box years ago. Furthermore, you probably have one of those old tiny square charging bricks anyway, you want the newer, more powerful rectangular one. You might even have one from your last iPhone purchase, I certainly do. And the important thing here is... The connector is already USB-C! So you don't need a new brick. But if you're starting from scratch, time to upgrade your brick anyway.
As for the cable... DON'T CHEAP OUT! Don't buy the gas station cheapie, don't save bucks here. You don't have to buy an overpriced Apple cable, but if you go for something cheaper, choose an Anker, or another established brand. You see all USB-C cords might look the same, but they are not, there are chips in the Apple cord, making sure you get just the right amount of juice to your iPhone, so it doesn't burn up.
And one more thing, warranty...
The Amex Platinum card will cover you, but only up to $800. That's gonna hurt if you lose your iPhone 15 Pro Max. Even worse, you might be getting a discount from your provider for going paperless. Usually if you use your Amex Platinum card, you lose the discount.
If you're worried about loss and theft, buy AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss. Oh, it makes no sense financially, but it gives you complete peace of mind, if that means anything to you. I've never lost a phone, never even broken one, but with this coverage I don't worry about it. I'll shoot in the rain, take my phone out on a cliff, while in a boat, knowing I'm covered. And Apple will get you a new phone almost instantly, without having to jump through too many hoops. You can buy coverage from your provider, and it's usually cheaper, but not as comprehensive, and more difficult to collect. You can choose.
As for phone support... Most people won't need it, and Google can answer most of your questions, but it is good to know you can call, frequently about integration with your other Apple devices, and get an answer, that's what AppleCare provides.
As to your other devices... Really, if you have an iPhone, you should go Mac. Now if you've got to use a PC for business, I understand it. If you're used to a PC and loath to switch, it's really not difficult, and the Apple Store will walk you through the process, teach you for free.
And it used to be that Macs were overpriced. But if money is your issue, you can now buy a MacBook Air for a grand. As for the extra money, your Mac will last longer in utility, and the difference will be a wash.
As for which MacBook Air to buy...
Well, let's start by saying only buy a MacBook Air if you're going to transport it, move it around, because it's inherently hobbled, otherwise go for a MacBook Pro, the 13" starts at $1299 and is more powerful and will last longer than the Air.
But if totability is key... You can get an Air... I'm always into the most screen real estate possible. So that would augur for a MacBook Air 15", but if you're buying an Air for portability, do you really want a bigger device?
As for chips and speed and storage... As long as it's an M chip, they're all good, they're all fast, but the newer and more powerful the better. And the devices now come with enough RAM, which was not the case previously. Well, except for the 13" Air, which like I said above, is inherently hobbled. It comes with 8GB of RAM, I'd bump it to 16, and only 256 GB of storage, and you need at least 512... As for storage, it's not like the old days, with so much living in the cloud, the only thing that eats up a lot of storage space is photos, but they can eat up a lot of space. And if you're making movies...buy more storage, and you might even need an external device too.
All the MacBooks are of recent vintage, I wouldn't hesitate to buy any of them now.
As for the iMac... Absolutely do not buy one now. They're going to introduce a new, updated model imminently. Wait.
As for a 27" iMac... There have been some rumors that it will reappear, but don't hold your breath, if you want 27" of screen real estate, and believe me, it makes a difference, opt for a Mac Studio. You do not need the M2 Ultra...or let me say if you do, you know. The M2 Ultra doesn't even make a difference with most everyday tasks. It only adds speed with a few high-tech applications, mostly video. So save $2000.
So you're in for $1999. You can buy the basic Mac Studio, although I'd bump up storage, probably even the M2 Max chip and I'd go for 64GB of RAM, but it's not necessary.
But then comes the problem, the screen. The Apple Studio Display, for $1599, is long in the tooth and was behind the times when it was launched eighteen months ago. Don't buy it, it's a rip-off. Apple needs a new Studio Display, when will it come? No one is sure, everybody hopes soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath. However, Samsung just introduced a new 5k screen for the same price that is thoroughly up-to-date. Sure, you'll lose a little bit of functionality, integration with the Mac Studio, but you'll get a much better display. As for the speakers in the Apple Studio Display... I mean if you're listening to audio via your display, why are you buying a Mac Studio to begin with? A waste of money.
Now what Apple is selling is an ecosystem, everything works together, seamlessly, with added productivity. And if there is a problem, you can get answers, you won't hear that someone else made the device and there's nothing they can do.
But it all starts with the iPhone. The iPhone is the most important device you own. Period. Ignore all the screeds about being on the phone too long, the phone is your right hand, you can't live without it, you need to call up an Uber, order food, connect with friends, research, it's an amazing piece of kit. You want a great phone, don't chintz. Furthermore, a great phone will give you more functionality. There is so much power in the iPhone, more than you can ever use. Your friends will give you some tips, like with AirDrop, but the better the phone the more you can do with it and the faster you can do it.
You need a new iPhone, it's just a matter of when.
And don't get emotional about it, don't talk about planned obsolescence, don't talk about the Apple premium, don't go on an anti-tech rant, because then you'll just look ignorant, the joke will be on you.
You'll want a new iPhone, it's just a matter of when.
And when you get one, be sure to go for the Pro, otherwise you're being blind to the math and losing functionality in the process. And believe me, you want that functionality, don't hobble yourself. Think about all that power in the palm of your hand for so little money, it's incredible. Oh, the places you will go, and what you will see... A great smartphone enriches your life, and you want an iPhone. Period.
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Saturday 16 September 2023
Friday 15 September 2023
Apple-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday September 16th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Phone #: 844-686-5863
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Costco
Every rich person needs to go. Not to one in the tony suburbs, but the inner city, where all classes meet.
That's one of the main problems in America today, the classes don't interact, therefore the wealthy have no idea of the life of those working with their hands, counting pennies. You don't have to be poor to go to Costco, but the richer you are, the less chance you're there.
Kind of like gas prices. It's over six bucks in L.A. I paid just under last night at the Shell on Van Nuys Boulevard, which is always the cheapest brand name outlet in the area, and my car gets terrible gas mileage, but at least it's paid for. And it is a car, not an SUV. And when I'm driving I'm surrounded by these monstrosities, forget the RAV4 and CRVs, there are giant Suburbans, and Navigators, and BMW X7s and Audi Q8s and Land Cruisers and G-Wagons, all brand new, how do people pay for the gas, never mind the lease payments?
But they don't matter to many. Of course there are those strutting their stuff, putting up a false face, but in truth most of the people driving these boxes on wheels can afford the gas, they don't even think about it, the biggest headache is going to the gas station to fill them up!
So I had to get my tires rotated. I bought 'em at Pep Boys... Bottom line, tire places are now fungible, they all charge almost the same price. If you're buying your tires online at the Tire Rack, you just haven't investigated your local shops fully. And Pep Boys is disorganized and untogether, but the work gets done. And the tires fall apart and get replaced under warranty.
Yes, I buy top of the line Michelins, Pilot Sports, and they're warranted for 40,000 miles, but once you hit 20,000 you're taking your life in your hands, for they're nearly bald. And my car wears tires out on the inside, don't ask me why, it's a feature, not a bug. So in order to maintain the warranty, I get them rotated regularly. Also, to balance the inner tire wear. And I bought lifetime alignment, so I get that done too. Although it took them a hell of a long time to find that in the computer today.
The guy who waited on me was of Eastern European heritage. And I'm wondering if this is a good job for him. Not speaking the language perfectly when he came here, being unskilled. But how much money could he make? And I'm standing there staring at him while he wrestles with the computer, and I see that he's actually kind of cute. Maybe he's a ladies man. But is he living for the outside, is the job just for money? I've had those jobs, they're intolerable, you're constantly watching the clock, counting down the hours and adding up the dollars in your wallet.
So Hasek tells me it's going to take two hours, and that's too long to wait, but Felice is on the phone, so I amble across the parking lot to Costco.
This is Van Nuys. Which I only knew from the bottle of shampoo my mother purchased. I'd study it taking a bath. Van Nuys, California...hmm, sounds exotic. It's not.
Now theoretically you've got to be a member to go into Costco, but I am not. But I do buy from Costco, via Instacart, but that was during Covid, should I purchase a membership?
Oh, I've been to Costco a number of times. It's not like I'm completely inexperienced. And sure, I wanted to check prices, but even more I wanted to wander around and look at the merchandise. It's kind of like going to the stereo store in the seventies, it's overwhelming, yet intriguing.
They were selling top of the line LG OLEDs. The price didn't seem that good, and I just checked it, you can actually get the TV for $150 less on Amazon, Costco is not always cheaper. But I was overwhelmed by the size of new TVs. 77" is now the standard, 85" is available. And if you're willing to forgo the latest picture technology, you can buy a giant TV for a reasonable price. It's like Tower Records in the old days, they're stacked up, just waiting for you to carry one home.
And I'm looking for the Vitamin Water I buy online and I encounter the free samples. I always feel guilty eating these, because usually I have no intention of buying the product, but they don't really seem to mind at Costco. I've already forgotten what I first sampled, because at the next stand they were giving away Hostess cupcakes, you know, with the circles on top, the real thing. These were exotic back in the day. And delicious, I always preferred the cupcakes to the snowballs. And I really shouldn't be eating it, but I had to have a bite before I tossed the rest.
And the prices for the food... The shrimp, they were giving it away. And the thing about Costco is all the food is good. I'd trust Costco food before Ralphs's. And I'm starting to ponder buying a membership.
And then I'm debating the time. I love a casual visit to Costco, but what if I had to go regularly? I mean the line to check out... There were many registers open, but they all had lines, and nobody was buying just one or two items.
And then I wandered into the drug/supplement line. The deals were amazing. About sixty cents on the dollar compared to Amazon. And it's cognitive dissonance, I'm blowing thousands in one shot on dentistry and I'm saving dollars on household products? I mean we all want to save money, but is it worth it? I mean is the time worth it. Or should you have it all delivered for a bit more. And you're saving gas money and helping the environment. But my radar is off. I won't pay for business class on a short flight, but when does it pay to splurge? I mean you can save pennies here and then blow thousands there.
And Felice was on a phone call and couldn't yet pick me up, so I decided to have a hot dog. But I didn't know the new system. You don't pay at the window, you pay in advance. You click on a picture of what you want on a screen, run your credit card, get a slip and cash it in. But my credit card wouldn't work. I've got a free Amex platinum card, and to make it look distinguished, they fabricate it out of metal. But it doesn't work in parking meters, and it wouldn't work at Costco. Was there a secret handshake, did the computer know I was not a member? I stepped back after three false tries and saw a picture of the plastic you could use and I whipped out my debit card and bought a hot dog and a drink for a buck fifty.
And then I got in line. The guy in front of me was allowing too large a space because he was watching a TV program on his phone. But could I blame him? He was making the most of his time, and no one was cutting ahead of him to boot.
And having eliminated payment, the people behind the glass, the worker bees, are just focused on fulfillment. Old people, who should have earned the right to retire. If you're working with your hands, standing on your feet, you're entitled to lay back at some point, ride out the rest of your years on the couch, but too many can't afford it. I'm watching the system, it's fascinating. The food becomes secondary to delivery. I've always thought that if I was involved in food service I'd eat constantly, but what was behind the glass was not appealing. Oh, the food was appealing, but when one young woman poured a heaping plastic jug of strawberry juice into the ice cream machine, it was almost gross.
I'd love to tell you the new all-beef hot dog is as good as the Hebrew National ones they used to sell, but that would be untrue. It's edible, but not delectable. But I'd be lying if I said it did not hit the spot. And the condiments, it's unlike most outlets. You push the relish button and a bunch of relish comes out, not just a dribble.
But what fascinated me most about Costco was the people. No one was dressed up. Who knows, especially in Southern California, you can look like a homeless person and be rich. But most looked like they didn't work in air-conditioning and they were out to save a buck. All colors, all ethnicities, we were all in it together. Twice people bumped into me and apologized. Most places people don't even look back, or yell it's your fault. The rich are grubbing for advantage, not worrying about the rest, but when you're average, you watch out for each other, you feel like you're all in it together.
And although I felt somewhat alien, I did not feel superior. But then I thought of people I knew who wouldn't be caught dead in Costco. It's beneath them. They don't want to hang with those people. As if something would rub off.
And then there are their children, who've never been exposed to the way the rest of us live. They've only flown private, they live behind gates, go to private schools...they're blind to the human condition.
And in truth, it works the opposite way. If people saw how the rich truly lived, there'd be revolution in the streets. Never mind the fact that they don't pay their fair share of taxes. Oh, don't bother me with that hogwash about the rich paying the lion's share of taxes. The more you make, the more you pay. But the percentage may be less. Leaving you with more, much more. And when you add in trusts and investment income, there are so many ways to avoid taxes. Even worse... I went to the accountant this week, we got a filing reprieve in California until 10/15. And she's asking me for my estimated tax receipts. I always used to make copies of the checks, but I learned the hard way never to send a check in the mail ever again. So I pay online, and I get an e-mail confirmation, and do I need to print that out? I told the accountant I'd paid. She told me so many people say they paid, but had not. I said that wasn't my personality, I'd paid, I could provide records, but then it occurred to me how easy it was to cheat on your taxes. And the odds of getting audited... Have been worse if you're poor! If Donald Trump had not raised his profile, become president, his tax shenanigans never would have surfaced. What they did with giving the family money and then the family overcharging for services... You probably don't even understand, your taxes are easy, you work for the man. But trust me, Trump cheated, it's in black and white. But Trump isn't the only one. Yet the goal of the right is to defund the IRS, characterizing it as a vulture operation that's going to screw you. You can't be screwed, because you get a weekly paycheck, with deductions. But the wealthy? Let the game begin.
That's America, it's a two-tiered system, in income, in justice, in so many ways. And neither side truly knows what is going on with the other.
The people at Costco were looking to save money. It's an effort to shop at Costco. A thrill for someone like me, but not for so many who have families, who are trying to make ends meet.
And on the way out I saw the vision department and thought about how Luxottica owns all the frame companies and rips the regular customer off, and then the prescription department, and I realized that Costco is an entire mentality, in some ways a middle finger to the system. The people who shop at Costco are smart, they don't want to be ripped-off. And they trust Costco. The same way I trust Amazon. Ever have a problem with Amazon? The customer service is amazing. You got the wrong product? They take the charge off your bill and tell you to keep it.
And all this happened, I experienced all this, learned all this, once I walked out the front door. And in truth I rarely have to walk out the front door anymore. So much is virtual, so much is delivered direct, that ultimately I'm isolated, and I'm not the only one.
We still haven't recovered from Covid. There are a ton of shows, but the social scene of the music business, the lunches and dinners...that hasn't fully come back.
It's different.
I can understand people not wanting to return to the office. And oftentimes people are more productive at home, never mind saving the time it takes to commute. But something has been lost.
But it's not only about a return to the office. We've all burrowed down into our own little holes. You used to have to leave the house to meet people, to get a date, now you can do that from the comfort of your own home. All this talk about a loneliness epidemic, men having no friends, I understand it. But we can't demonize the internet, it's the best thing that ever happened to me, we can reach out and touch so many, we're never completely alone. But the human touch is important too. We no longer bowl together, and who even bowls anyway? Hanging with the masses, those you don't know, is anathema. We all live in the country, but we are not all in it together.
Unless you're at Costco. It's a melting pot, and being there felt good. Everyone should experience it.
That's one of the main problems in America today, the classes don't interact, therefore the wealthy have no idea of the life of those working with their hands, counting pennies. You don't have to be poor to go to Costco, but the richer you are, the less chance you're there.
Kind of like gas prices. It's over six bucks in L.A. I paid just under last night at the Shell on Van Nuys Boulevard, which is always the cheapest brand name outlet in the area, and my car gets terrible gas mileage, but at least it's paid for. And it is a car, not an SUV. And when I'm driving I'm surrounded by these monstrosities, forget the RAV4 and CRVs, there are giant Suburbans, and Navigators, and BMW X7s and Audi Q8s and Land Cruisers and G-Wagons, all brand new, how do people pay for the gas, never mind the lease payments?
But they don't matter to many. Of course there are those strutting their stuff, putting up a false face, but in truth most of the people driving these boxes on wheels can afford the gas, they don't even think about it, the biggest headache is going to the gas station to fill them up!
So I had to get my tires rotated. I bought 'em at Pep Boys... Bottom line, tire places are now fungible, they all charge almost the same price. If you're buying your tires online at the Tire Rack, you just haven't investigated your local shops fully. And Pep Boys is disorganized and untogether, but the work gets done. And the tires fall apart and get replaced under warranty.
Yes, I buy top of the line Michelins, Pilot Sports, and they're warranted for 40,000 miles, but once you hit 20,000 you're taking your life in your hands, for they're nearly bald. And my car wears tires out on the inside, don't ask me why, it's a feature, not a bug. So in order to maintain the warranty, I get them rotated regularly. Also, to balance the inner tire wear. And I bought lifetime alignment, so I get that done too. Although it took them a hell of a long time to find that in the computer today.
The guy who waited on me was of Eastern European heritage. And I'm wondering if this is a good job for him. Not speaking the language perfectly when he came here, being unskilled. But how much money could he make? And I'm standing there staring at him while he wrestles with the computer, and I see that he's actually kind of cute. Maybe he's a ladies man. But is he living for the outside, is the job just for money? I've had those jobs, they're intolerable, you're constantly watching the clock, counting down the hours and adding up the dollars in your wallet.
So Hasek tells me it's going to take two hours, and that's too long to wait, but Felice is on the phone, so I amble across the parking lot to Costco.
This is Van Nuys. Which I only knew from the bottle of shampoo my mother purchased. I'd study it taking a bath. Van Nuys, California...hmm, sounds exotic. It's not.
Now theoretically you've got to be a member to go into Costco, but I am not. But I do buy from Costco, via Instacart, but that was during Covid, should I purchase a membership?
Oh, I've been to Costco a number of times. It's not like I'm completely inexperienced. And sure, I wanted to check prices, but even more I wanted to wander around and look at the merchandise. It's kind of like going to the stereo store in the seventies, it's overwhelming, yet intriguing.
They were selling top of the line LG OLEDs. The price didn't seem that good, and I just checked it, you can actually get the TV for $150 less on Amazon, Costco is not always cheaper. But I was overwhelmed by the size of new TVs. 77" is now the standard, 85" is available. And if you're willing to forgo the latest picture technology, you can buy a giant TV for a reasonable price. It's like Tower Records in the old days, they're stacked up, just waiting for you to carry one home.
And I'm looking for the Vitamin Water I buy online and I encounter the free samples. I always feel guilty eating these, because usually I have no intention of buying the product, but they don't really seem to mind at Costco. I've already forgotten what I first sampled, because at the next stand they were giving away Hostess cupcakes, you know, with the circles on top, the real thing. These were exotic back in the day. And delicious, I always preferred the cupcakes to the snowballs. And I really shouldn't be eating it, but I had to have a bite before I tossed the rest.
And the prices for the food... The shrimp, they were giving it away. And the thing about Costco is all the food is good. I'd trust Costco food before Ralphs's. And I'm starting to ponder buying a membership.
And then I'm debating the time. I love a casual visit to Costco, but what if I had to go regularly? I mean the line to check out... There were many registers open, but they all had lines, and nobody was buying just one or two items.
And then I wandered into the drug/supplement line. The deals were amazing. About sixty cents on the dollar compared to Amazon. And it's cognitive dissonance, I'm blowing thousands in one shot on dentistry and I'm saving dollars on household products? I mean we all want to save money, but is it worth it? I mean is the time worth it. Or should you have it all delivered for a bit more. And you're saving gas money and helping the environment. But my radar is off. I won't pay for business class on a short flight, but when does it pay to splurge? I mean you can save pennies here and then blow thousands there.
And Felice was on a phone call and couldn't yet pick me up, so I decided to have a hot dog. But I didn't know the new system. You don't pay at the window, you pay in advance. You click on a picture of what you want on a screen, run your credit card, get a slip and cash it in. But my credit card wouldn't work. I've got a free Amex platinum card, and to make it look distinguished, they fabricate it out of metal. But it doesn't work in parking meters, and it wouldn't work at Costco. Was there a secret handshake, did the computer know I was not a member? I stepped back after three false tries and saw a picture of the plastic you could use and I whipped out my debit card and bought a hot dog and a drink for a buck fifty.
And then I got in line. The guy in front of me was allowing too large a space because he was watching a TV program on his phone. But could I blame him? He was making the most of his time, and no one was cutting ahead of him to boot.
And having eliminated payment, the people behind the glass, the worker bees, are just focused on fulfillment. Old people, who should have earned the right to retire. If you're working with your hands, standing on your feet, you're entitled to lay back at some point, ride out the rest of your years on the couch, but too many can't afford it. I'm watching the system, it's fascinating. The food becomes secondary to delivery. I've always thought that if I was involved in food service I'd eat constantly, but what was behind the glass was not appealing. Oh, the food was appealing, but when one young woman poured a heaping plastic jug of strawberry juice into the ice cream machine, it was almost gross.
I'd love to tell you the new all-beef hot dog is as good as the Hebrew National ones they used to sell, but that would be untrue. It's edible, but not delectable. But I'd be lying if I said it did not hit the spot. And the condiments, it's unlike most outlets. You push the relish button and a bunch of relish comes out, not just a dribble.
But what fascinated me most about Costco was the people. No one was dressed up. Who knows, especially in Southern California, you can look like a homeless person and be rich. But most looked like they didn't work in air-conditioning and they were out to save a buck. All colors, all ethnicities, we were all in it together. Twice people bumped into me and apologized. Most places people don't even look back, or yell it's your fault. The rich are grubbing for advantage, not worrying about the rest, but when you're average, you watch out for each other, you feel like you're all in it together.
And although I felt somewhat alien, I did not feel superior. But then I thought of people I knew who wouldn't be caught dead in Costco. It's beneath them. They don't want to hang with those people. As if something would rub off.
And then there are their children, who've never been exposed to the way the rest of us live. They've only flown private, they live behind gates, go to private schools...they're blind to the human condition.
And in truth, it works the opposite way. If people saw how the rich truly lived, there'd be revolution in the streets. Never mind the fact that they don't pay their fair share of taxes. Oh, don't bother me with that hogwash about the rich paying the lion's share of taxes. The more you make, the more you pay. But the percentage may be less. Leaving you with more, much more. And when you add in trusts and investment income, there are so many ways to avoid taxes. Even worse... I went to the accountant this week, we got a filing reprieve in California until 10/15. And she's asking me for my estimated tax receipts. I always used to make copies of the checks, but I learned the hard way never to send a check in the mail ever again. So I pay online, and I get an e-mail confirmation, and do I need to print that out? I told the accountant I'd paid. She told me so many people say they paid, but had not. I said that wasn't my personality, I'd paid, I could provide records, but then it occurred to me how easy it was to cheat on your taxes. And the odds of getting audited... Have been worse if you're poor! If Donald Trump had not raised his profile, become president, his tax shenanigans never would have surfaced. What they did with giving the family money and then the family overcharging for services... You probably don't even understand, your taxes are easy, you work for the man. But trust me, Trump cheated, it's in black and white. But Trump isn't the only one. Yet the goal of the right is to defund the IRS, characterizing it as a vulture operation that's going to screw you. You can't be screwed, because you get a weekly paycheck, with deductions. But the wealthy? Let the game begin.
That's America, it's a two-tiered system, in income, in justice, in so many ways. And neither side truly knows what is going on with the other.
The people at Costco were looking to save money. It's an effort to shop at Costco. A thrill for someone like me, but not for so many who have families, who are trying to make ends meet.
And on the way out I saw the vision department and thought about how Luxottica owns all the frame companies and rips the regular customer off, and then the prescription department, and I realized that Costco is an entire mentality, in some ways a middle finger to the system. The people who shop at Costco are smart, they don't want to be ripped-off. And they trust Costco. The same way I trust Amazon. Ever have a problem with Amazon? The customer service is amazing. You got the wrong product? They take the charge off your bill and tell you to keep it.
And all this happened, I experienced all this, learned all this, once I walked out the front door. And in truth I rarely have to walk out the front door anymore. So much is virtual, so much is delivered direct, that ultimately I'm isolated, and I'm not the only one.
We still haven't recovered from Covid. There are a ton of shows, but the social scene of the music business, the lunches and dinners...that hasn't fully come back.
It's different.
I can understand people not wanting to return to the office. And oftentimes people are more productive at home, never mind saving the time it takes to commute. But something has been lost.
But it's not only about a return to the office. We've all burrowed down into our own little holes. You used to have to leave the house to meet people, to get a date, now you can do that from the comfort of your own home. All this talk about a loneliness epidemic, men having no friends, I understand it. But we can't demonize the internet, it's the best thing that ever happened to me, we can reach out and touch so many, we're never completely alone. But the human touch is important too. We no longer bowl together, and who even bowls anyway? Hanging with the masses, those you don't know, is anathema. We all live in the country, but we are not all in it together.
Unless you're at Costco. It's a melting pot, and being there felt good. Everyone should experience it.
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Thursday 14 September 2023
Cracked Tooth
I'm numb. Both physically and emotionally.
Monday night I bit down on a parmesan crisp and I felt a jolt in my mouth. I thought I might have broken a tooth, but there was nothing loose in my mouth, and usually there is if this happens, I know, from experience, just back in February.
But my tooth seemed solid. Yet there was an ache. And I chalked it up to nerves, to my gums, because when I was at the dentist a couple of months back complaining about pain, thinking a tooth he saved ten years previously in a delicate procedure was broken, he said it was just fine, and it was gum pain, and he shaved down the aforementioned tooth just a bit and voila, after a couple of weeks I was fine.
But Tuesday night my OCD started to kick in. I mean the pain wasn't any less. Then again, it was not pain. It was just a dull ache, when I bit down on something. But still...
Then yesterday, Wednesday, during physical therapy, I ran my tongue over the tooth in question and I felt something different, something sticking out, and I knew I had to see the dentist.
You see I know the dentist doesn't work on Friday. And I'm out of town next Monday to Wednesday for a gig. So I break the PT session to call the dentist's office. They say he can see me at 11:10 in the morning. Great, but I've got a shrink appointment at that time, what about the afternoon? No availability. So I said I'd take it, worrying that the shrink would charge me for the canceled appointment...if I don't cancel within twenty four hours I've got to pay, and it was less than twenty four hours.
Ultimately my shrink filled the hole, so it was a non-issue, and I showed up in Beverly Hills for the appointment at 11:10.
Upon inspection, it was determined that my tooth had a crack in it. But it was worse than that, because the crack went below the gumline, and if it went too far below the gumline it couldn't be repaired. And if it could be repaired, I'd need a root canal, and then would the tooth even survive that long, or would it be better just to pull it. Only the periodontist could tell for sure, and he wasn't in. After asking if I could handle the discomfort until tomorrow, which I said I could, the periodontist was booked for Friday afternoon. But then it was determined that the periodontist could return at 4:15 if I was available. Absolutely, I've cleared the decks, I'll be there.
So I go home in a funk, I'm in suspended animation, and return at 4:15 and I sit down in the chair and the periodontist starts talking about the wrong tooth!
I've got to back up here. Before I left earlier, they did a CT scan. Used to be you had to go to a separate office on Beverly Drive and sit amidst giant equipment, but now the CT scan is something minor, that looks like it was 3-D printed, there's one in the office, they strapped my head in, and that was the picture the periodontist was looking at.
And he's talking about an infection and my head is spinning... I'm here for a cracked tooth, what are you talking about?
Well, that implant I got back in 2017... The bone has receded, there's an infection, it has to come out.
Whoa!
To tell you the truth I didn't believe it, I needed to be convinced. I got the whole rap and I accepted my fate and then reminded this guy that I was there for a completely different reason, which was news to him. Yet upon investigation, he saw what I was talking about.
So now I get numbed up so the cracked part of the tooth can be removed. And when it is extracted... It looks to me like it goes too far below the gumline to save it. But he tells me if he adds some bone, the dentist can do it. And then the dentist comes in for a consultation, and says I dodged a bullet, because the nerve was not involved, and as long as the periodontist leaves a millimeter of bone, he can fix the tooth, sans root canal.
That's a big point, saving the tooth. That's today's mantra. And after finding out my expensive implant needed to be removed, so that they could clean out the infection and add some bone, I bought the theory.
So then I got a temporary, which this guy said would stay fixed in Canada, I've had temporaries fall off previously, and then we talked about surgery...
We could do it right then, but I'd have discomfort for three or four days. We batted it about, this guy was giving me tons of time, and decided the best plan was to wait until the following Thursday to have the implant removed and the cracked tooth fixed up, he said it was best to do them at the same time, they were on the same side, and he didn't want to prescribe antibiotics twice.
Oh, what caused the crack? An amalgam filling. You know, from back in the day. Before fluoridated water, when cavities were part of growing up. Man, that tooth was probably filled before I was even ten. But amalgam expands and causes cracks...the periodontist could see it when he opened up the tooth.
So then we had to book the anesthesiologist, get the details down, and meanwhile, the guy behind the desk is asking me to pay. He says they're going to waive some fee, but still...I was out the better part of a grand.
But that wasn't as bad as when his compatriot asked me to sign a form acknowledging the details of next week's procedures and I realized...by time this is done, I'm going to be out double-digit thousands.
Whoa!
So what are the options?
Well, this dentist is a miracle worker. He saved two teeth that another dentist and an oral surgeon said had to absolutely be removed.
But as expensive as the dentist is, most of the cost here is the periodontist.
So... I could just have the tooth pulled and leave a space. But that makes you look like a homeless person, that won't do.
As for the implant being removed... The periodontist started talking about the infection going through the blood, into the heart, and I've already got enough things wrong with me, I don't want to risk it. He was more concerned about the infection than the cracked tooth anyway.
And I could not put a new implant in the back, but that goes against what all the professionals advise. The periodontist said my other teeth would bear an undue load, and would ultimately crack.
No, I've got to do this right.
There are a few areas where I don't cheap out. Health, my ski equipment and my computer equipment. Oh, and my car too. I repair it to the limit when scheduled. Then again, it's an eighteen year old car.
But what do other people do?
Well, I know some well-heeled people who refuse to pay for health issues. They save the money, it's better spent on a vacation, or an automobile... But just like if you don't service a car it eventually fails, same deal with the human body, and that's all you have, the other stuff is superfluous.
But how about the people who don't have the money, what do they do?
Well, I know some who get the teeth pulled, or go to the UCLA dentistry school, and I just read a whole article about dental services over the border in Mexico.
But nothing is free. And we live in a country of haves and have-nots.
And the have-nots die sooner. And it's all because of health care. Yes, the wealthy live longer because they get better health care. It's regularly reported in the news, with data. Oh, that's right, you can't trust the "New York Times," you don't want to get vaccinated. I want all the help I can get. Man, give me that shot. I'll take the risk, which is nearly infinitesimal anyway, despite what RFK Jr. says.
But even if you have dental insurance, which I don't, it doesn't cover much, everybody says to forgo its purchase. But what does everybody else do?
I mean you can show up at the emergency room and get seen without insurance, but not if you've got a problem with your teeth. What do you do?
And in truth, an infection in your mouth can kill you, my cardiologist told me this. But so many are young and think they'll live forever and as you get older, especially men, they believe in ignorance, if you don't think about it it doesn't exist. So, we lose members of the cohort on a regular basis, whether it be Warren Zevon or that guy who died of a heart attack in his forties, and the rest of us make note of it and keep on living.
And how much longer are we going to live anyway?
My mother always complained that people live too long. She did not fear dying, as a matter of fact, she always told us if she was in the hospital to kill her. You know, pull the plug. Don't employ unnecessary measures to prolong her life. And that's the exact phrase she used, KILL ME!
Then again, I've realized as I've gotten older that my upbringing was so different from so many. My parents didn't believe in closing our eyes, quite the contrary, they wanted to open them. Screw movie ratings, just go, we'll get you in. My parents were the opposite of afraid, they dove in, grabbed on with both of their hands, they ate up life.
As for pampering us... Not only did my mother never drive us to school she never picked us up. I remember walking home in second grade during a hurricane, they closed school early.
But turning seventy has changed my perspective. My father died at seventy. And how long am I going to live anyway?
One thing is for sure, I don't want to relax, miss life, I want to eat it up, that's what my mother specialized in, what she taught me. And I don't want to die in my sleep, I want to see it coming, I want to know.
And in truth you don't want to live forever. All your friends are dead. It's really depressing. But how much longer am I going to live?
If I die in the next couple of years it won't matter how much money I spend fixing my teeth. But if I live another couple of decades, do I risk outliving my money?
Man, my generation has its head in the ground. Close family friends, two couples, ran out of money, their kids kept them alive, but I have no kids.
And it's hard to dream about my financial future. Everybody's on social security, they don't want to work. I want to work, I'm willing to work, I am still working, but it's weird, most people my age, people I know, are done, like life is over, and they complain about their cash and their ailments, and I don't want to be one of those.
But if I'm laying out all this money for my mouth, does it pay to scrimp elsewhere?
Scrimping, being cheap, if you age and this is how you behave I feel sorry for you. It's one thing if you've got no bread, then I really feel bad for you, but I know too many who won't go and do, who buy second-rate products, believing they're unentitled. I've gotta ask, when will this change, when will you be entitled? You don't want to die with regrets. Oh, we all have regrets, anybody who denies this is lying, but you don't want to be on your deathbed lamenting you didn't go here or there.
I mean for this amount of money I could have gone skiing in South America this summer, twice, it started truly dumping a couple of weeks back. Seems extravagant, but how much am I laying out for my teeth?
I feel good that I got two new pairs of skis last year. Because it made me happy! Skiing is number one, that's why I went to Middlebury, and that's what I still do, 57 days last year. Oh, you don't know if I'm in Vail, with modern communications methods you can be anywhere! And my new 99s, they hold like ice skates on Pepi's Face, which is rock hard, and as steep as anything at Vail. I could have gotten another season out of my old boards, but man, when I hit the hard stuff, it was scary. Why live this way?
I've got the money to pay my dental bill. I don't want to pay my dental bill. I mean last week I thought my teeth were fine. This came out of the blue. But it always comes out of the blue. Which is why you have to have a nest egg, which is another reason to not buy stuff on credit. I mean what do you really NEED! Credit card interest is insane, unless you absolutely need it, don't charge it. Then again, I believe in delayed gratification, but too many do not. They want it, they believe they deserve it, right now. Many of those people you know leading high-flying lifestyles are flat broke. One paycheck away from losing it all. They're worried about their image.
No one cares about you, they only care about themselves. Oh, don't tell me otherwise, everybody's narcissistic at the core. I'm not saying they've got no compassion, I'm just saying if you think people care what you look like, where you go, what you drive, you're plain wrong. They might say something, put you down, but they don't think about you for long, they're too busy thinking about themselves.
So I'm just biting the bullet. I'm just paying. Like I said, if I die in a few years it's a drop in the bucket. And if I live long... Well, that's challenging, I always say if I outlive my money I'll kill myself, commit suicide. I mean what else can you do? Oh, maybe I'd live the homeless life for a while, but aren't the homeless the enemy?
Everybody in America decries the so-called takers, not realizing they are already taking and they might need the safety net provided by the government, to the degree it exists. But like I said above, everybody thinks they're immune, that it won't happen to them, that they're living a charmed life and everything will work out with no bumps in the road and it will be sunny for the rest of their days.
Wrong.
You can pooh-pooh the above screed, but the truth is everybody weighs these issues, has these internal debates, they just don't want you to think they're weak, so they don't verbalize them. Especially men, they've got to be macho. That doesn't do much for you when you're six feet under.
We're all trying to figure it out for ourselves. You realize this when your parents are gone, when they're not there to lean on, to give you advice, to scold you, to cough up some dough if you're in a pinch. If you're just putting one foot in front of the other, blindly...man, one day you're going to fall into a pothole and good luck recovering.
I'm rationalizing. I'm overwhelmed with this bill. But I know the right thing to do. I'm gonna just go ahead and pay it. Life is funny that way, you're down one day, and then something good happens and you're rescued the next. You can't be afraid to live life, you've got to go in with both guns blazing.
But I'm going to get one hell of a credit card bill next month.
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Monday night I bit down on a parmesan crisp and I felt a jolt in my mouth. I thought I might have broken a tooth, but there was nothing loose in my mouth, and usually there is if this happens, I know, from experience, just back in February.
But my tooth seemed solid. Yet there was an ache. And I chalked it up to nerves, to my gums, because when I was at the dentist a couple of months back complaining about pain, thinking a tooth he saved ten years previously in a delicate procedure was broken, he said it was just fine, and it was gum pain, and he shaved down the aforementioned tooth just a bit and voila, after a couple of weeks I was fine.
But Tuesday night my OCD started to kick in. I mean the pain wasn't any less. Then again, it was not pain. It was just a dull ache, when I bit down on something. But still...
Then yesterday, Wednesday, during physical therapy, I ran my tongue over the tooth in question and I felt something different, something sticking out, and I knew I had to see the dentist.
You see I know the dentist doesn't work on Friday. And I'm out of town next Monday to Wednesday for a gig. So I break the PT session to call the dentist's office. They say he can see me at 11:10 in the morning. Great, but I've got a shrink appointment at that time, what about the afternoon? No availability. So I said I'd take it, worrying that the shrink would charge me for the canceled appointment...if I don't cancel within twenty four hours I've got to pay, and it was less than twenty four hours.
Ultimately my shrink filled the hole, so it was a non-issue, and I showed up in Beverly Hills for the appointment at 11:10.
Upon inspection, it was determined that my tooth had a crack in it. But it was worse than that, because the crack went below the gumline, and if it went too far below the gumline it couldn't be repaired. And if it could be repaired, I'd need a root canal, and then would the tooth even survive that long, or would it be better just to pull it. Only the periodontist could tell for sure, and he wasn't in. After asking if I could handle the discomfort until tomorrow, which I said I could, the periodontist was booked for Friday afternoon. But then it was determined that the periodontist could return at 4:15 if I was available. Absolutely, I've cleared the decks, I'll be there.
So I go home in a funk, I'm in suspended animation, and return at 4:15 and I sit down in the chair and the periodontist starts talking about the wrong tooth!
I've got to back up here. Before I left earlier, they did a CT scan. Used to be you had to go to a separate office on Beverly Drive and sit amidst giant equipment, but now the CT scan is something minor, that looks like it was 3-D printed, there's one in the office, they strapped my head in, and that was the picture the periodontist was looking at.
And he's talking about an infection and my head is spinning... I'm here for a cracked tooth, what are you talking about?
Well, that implant I got back in 2017... The bone has receded, there's an infection, it has to come out.
Whoa!
To tell you the truth I didn't believe it, I needed to be convinced. I got the whole rap and I accepted my fate and then reminded this guy that I was there for a completely different reason, which was news to him. Yet upon investigation, he saw what I was talking about.
So now I get numbed up so the cracked part of the tooth can be removed. And when it is extracted... It looks to me like it goes too far below the gumline to save it. But he tells me if he adds some bone, the dentist can do it. And then the dentist comes in for a consultation, and says I dodged a bullet, because the nerve was not involved, and as long as the periodontist leaves a millimeter of bone, he can fix the tooth, sans root canal.
That's a big point, saving the tooth. That's today's mantra. And after finding out my expensive implant needed to be removed, so that they could clean out the infection and add some bone, I bought the theory.
So then I got a temporary, which this guy said would stay fixed in Canada, I've had temporaries fall off previously, and then we talked about surgery...
We could do it right then, but I'd have discomfort for three or four days. We batted it about, this guy was giving me tons of time, and decided the best plan was to wait until the following Thursday to have the implant removed and the cracked tooth fixed up, he said it was best to do them at the same time, they were on the same side, and he didn't want to prescribe antibiotics twice.
Oh, what caused the crack? An amalgam filling. You know, from back in the day. Before fluoridated water, when cavities were part of growing up. Man, that tooth was probably filled before I was even ten. But amalgam expands and causes cracks...the periodontist could see it when he opened up the tooth.
So then we had to book the anesthesiologist, get the details down, and meanwhile, the guy behind the desk is asking me to pay. He says they're going to waive some fee, but still...I was out the better part of a grand.
But that wasn't as bad as when his compatriot asked me to sign a form acknowledging the details of next week's procedures and I realized...by time this is done, I'm going to be out double-digit thousands.
Whoa!
So what are the options?
Well, this dentist is a miracle worker. He saved two teeth that another dentist and an oral surgeon said had to absolutely be removed.
But as expensive as the dentist is, most of the cost here is the periodontist.
So... I could just have the tooth pulled and leave a space. But that makes you look like a homeless person, that won't do.
As for the implant being removed... The periodontist started talking about the infection going through the blood, into the heart, and I've already got enough things wrong with me, I don't want to risk it. He was more concerned about the infection than the cracked tooth anyway.
And I could not put a new implant in the back, but that goes against what all the professionals advise. The periodontist said my other teeth would bear an undue load, and would ultimately crack.
No, I've got to do this right.
There are a few areas where I don't cheap out. Health, my ski equipment and my computer equipment. Oh, and my car too. I repair it to the limit when scheduled. Then again, it's an eighteen year old car.
But what do other people do?
Well, I know some well-heeled people who refuse to pay for health issues. They save the money, it's better spent on a vacation, or an automobile... But just like if you don't service a car it eventually fails, same deal with the human body, and that's all you have, the other stuff is superfluous.
But how about the people who don't have the money, what do they do?
Well, I know some who get the teeth pulled, or go to the UCLA dentistry school, and I just read a whole article about dental services over the border in Mexico.
But nothing is free. And we live in a country of haves and have-nots.
And the have-nots die sooner. And it's all because of health care. Yes, the wealthy live longer because they get better health care. It's regularly reported in the news, with data. Oh, that's right, you can't trust the "New York Times," you don't want to get vaccinated. I want all the help I can get. Man, give me that shot. I'll take the risk, which is nearly infinitesimal anyway, despite what RFK Jr. says.
But even if you have dental insurance, which I don't, it doesn't cover much, everybody says to forgo its purchase. But what does everybody else do?
I mean you can show up at the emergency room and get seen without insurance, but not if you've got a problem with your teeth. What do you do?
And in truth, an infection in your mouth can kill you, my cardiologist told me this. But so many are young and think they'll live forever and as you get older, especially men, they believe in ignorance, if you don't think about it it doesn't exist. So, we lose members of the cohort on a regular basis, whether it be Warren Zevon or that guy who died of a heart attack in his forties, and the rest of us make note of it and keep on living.
And how much longer are we going to live anyway?
My mother always complained that people live too long. She did not fear dying, as a matter of fact, she always told us if she was in the hospital to kill her. You know, pull the plug. Don't employ unnecessary measures to prolong her life. And that's the exact phrase she used, KILL ME!
Then again, I've realized as I've gotten older that my upbringing was so different from so many. My parents didn't believe in closing our eyes, quite the contrary, they wanted to open them. Screw movie ratings, just go, we'll get you in. My parents were the opposite of afraid, they dove in, grabbed on with both of their hands, they ate up life.
As for pampering us... Not only did my mother never drive us to school she never picked us up. I remember walking home in second grade during a hurricane, they closed school early.
But turning seventy has changed my perspective. My father died at seventy. And how long am I going to live anyway?
One thing is for sure, I don't want to relax, miss life, I want to eat it up, that's what my mother specialized in, what she taught me. And I don't want to die in my sleep, I want to see it coming, I want to know.
And in truth you don't want to live forever. All your friends are dead. It's really depressing. But how much longer am I going to live?
If I die in the next couple of years it won't matter how much money I spend fixing my teeth. But if I live another couple of decades, do I risk outliving my money?
Man, my generation has its head in the ground. Close family friends, two couples, ran out of money, their kids kept them alive, but I have no kids.
And it's hard to dream about my financial future. Everybody's on social security, they don't want to work. I want to work, I'm willing to work, I am still working, but it's weird, most people my age, people I know, are done, like life is over, and they complain about their cash and their ailments, and I don't want to be one of those.
But if I'm laying out all this money for my mouth, does it pay to scrimp elsewhere?
Scrimping, being cheap, if you age and this is how you behave I feel sorry for you. It's one thing if you've got no bread, then I really feel bad for you, but I know too many who won't go and do, who buy second-rate products, believing they're unentitled. I've gotta ask, when will this change, when will you be entitled? You don't want to die with regrets. Oh, we all have regrets, anybody who denies this is lying, but you don't want to be on your deathbed lamenting you didn't go here or there.
I mean for this amount of money I could have gone skiing in South America this summer, twice, it started truly dumping a couple of weeks back. Seems extravagant, but how much am I laying out for my teeth?
I feel good that I got two new pairs of skis last year. Because it made me happy! Skiing is number one, that's why I went to Middlebury, and that's what I still do, 57 days last year. Oh, you don't know if I'm in Vail, with modern communications methods you can be anywhere! And my new 99s, they hold like ice skates on Pepi's Face, which is rock hard, and as steep as anything at Vail. I could have gotten another season out of my old boards, but man, when I hit the hard stuff, it was scary. Why live this way?
I've got the money to pay my dental bill. I don't want to pay my dental bill. I mean last week I thought my teeth were fine. This came out of the blue. But it always comes out of the blue. Which is why you have to have a nest egg, which is another reason to not buy stuff on credit. I mean what do you really NEED! Credit card interest is insane, unless you absolutely need it, don't charge it. Then again, I believe in delayed gratification, but too many do not. They want it, they believe they deserve it, right now. Many of those people you know leading high-flying lifestyles are flat broke. One paycheck away from losing it all. They're worried about their image.
No one cares about you, they only care about themselves. Oh, don't tell me otherwise, everybody's narcissistic at the core. I'm not saying they've got no compassion, I'm just saying if you think people care what you look like, where you go, what you drive, you're plain wrong. They might say something, put you down, but they don't think about you for long, they're too busy thinking about themselves.
So I'm just biting the bullet. I'm just paying. Like I said, if I die in a few years it's a drop in the bucket. And if I live long... Well, that's challenging, I always say if I outlive my money I'll kill myself, commit suicide. I mean what else can you do? Oh, maybe I'd live the homeless life for a while, but aren't the homeless the enemy?
Everybody in America decries the so-called takers, not realizing they are already taking and they might need the safety net provided by the government, to the degree it exists. But like I said above, everybody thinks they're immune, that it won't happen to them, that they're living a charmed life and everything will work out with no bumps in the road and it will be sunny for the rest of their days.
Wrong.
You can pooh-pooh the above screed, but the truth is everybody weighs these issues, has these internal debates, they just don't want you to think they're weak, so they don't verbalize them. Especially men, they've got to be macho. That doesn't do much for you when you're six feet under.
We're all trying to figure it out for ourselves. You realize this when your parents are gone, when they're not there to lean on, to give you advice, to scold you, to cough up some dough if you're in a pinch. If you're just putting one foot in front of the other, blindly...man, one day you're going to fall into a pothole and good luck recovering.
I'm rationalizing. I'm overwhelmed with this bill. But I know the right thing to do. I'm gonna just go ahead and pay it. Life is funny that way, you're down one day, and then something good happens and you're rescued the next. You can't be afraid to live life, you've got to go in with both guns blazing.
But I'm going to get one hell of a credit card bill next month.
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Infamy
Trailer: https://tinyurl.com/msj6zk6f
This is the Polish series on Netflix that I referenced. It is not the slam dunk of "Silk," then again although it's got classic genre underpinnings, i.e. woman wants to choose her own life, it's really quite different.
What we've got here is Romani people. In case you missed the memo, these are the people previously called "Gypsies." A derided group which was decimated by Hitler, the Romani are burdened with negative stereotypes.
So the series begins with an exiled Romani family moving back from the U.K. to Poland. They're allowing the father back, but he must pay his debt. The parents want to return to the family, in the Romani world it is all about family, but teenage Gita does not want to leave her friends. But the journey is made.
You won't know exactly what is happening at all times, but it definitely adds up. It's not that it's really confusing, but the storylines have to play out for the viewer to understand what is at stake.
Now the twist, what makes "Infamy" interesting to viewers who might be turned off by the premise, is that Gita is a thoroughly modern girl, who aspires to be a successful rapper. This is not TV fantasy, you can relate. That's one thing about rap, the barrier to entry is low. People all over the world are making beats and rapping on top of them, irrelevant of their ultimate commercial success. It's akin to the garage bands the baby boomers formed after the Beatles broke.
So what you've got here is a contrast between tradition and free-thinking, between yesterday and today. And mixed in is the Romani business, in this case drug-dealing.
And then there are the kids Gita goes to school with. She tells them she is from Brazil, so they don't judge her negatively as Romani. Kids can be cruel. And there is a dependence on the church, on the priest, in this very Catholic country. Outside the family home everybody is living a modern life, yet they are thousands of miles away from America. But they've been influenced by America.
So Gita's father, Marko, is warm but weak, he wants to satiate Gita, not step on her hopes and dreams, but he is hamstrung by his debt to the family.
As for Gita's mother...she's burdened by the fact that Marko rescued her from the poor Romani, and she doesn't want to go back to a life of little.
And the grandmother has the ultimate say, but as warm as she can be, she is not going to sacrifice her Romani traditions.
And Marko's brother Stefan runs the family business, with an iron fist.
And...
"Infamy" is somewhat impressionistic. In that the narrative does not plot out perfectly, as in the story does not necessarily go from A to B to C. Or let me just say there are musical interludes.
I found "Infamy" through the "New York Times," it's now got an 86 on the audience TomatoMeter, but when I started watching it the series was unrated. Meanwhile, that 86 number is based on only seven reviews.
I thought with the promo in the "Times" and the Netflix imprimatur that "Infamy" would get more traction, but that does not appear to be the case.
I don't recommend "Infamy" absolutely. I don't think everybody will watch it and love it. But if you are the kind of person who believes foreign series are usually more authentic than American ones, who wants their horizons expanded, who wants a series they can tell their friends about...watch it.
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This is the Polish series on Netflix that I referenced. It is not the slam dunk of "Silk," then again although it's got classic genre underpinnings, i.e. woman wants to choose her own life, it's really quite different.
What we've got here is Romani people. In case you missed the memo, these are the people previously called "Gypsies." A derided group which was decimated by Hitler, the Romani are burdened with negative stereotypes.
So the series begins with an exiled Romani family moving back from the U.K. to Poland. They're allowing the father back, but he must pay his debt. The parents want to return to the family, in the Romani world it is all about family, but teenage Gita does not want to leave her friends. But the journey is made.
You won't know exactly what is happening at all times, but it definitely adds up. It's not that it's really confusing, but the storylines have to play out for the viewer to understand what is at stake.
Now the twist, what makes "Infamy" interesting to viewers who might be turned off by the premise, is that Gita is a thoroughly modern girl, who aspires to be a successful rapper. This is not TV fantasy, you can relate. That's one thing about rap, the barrier to entry is low. People all over the world are making beats and rapping on top of them, irrelevant of their ultimate commercial success. It's akin to the garage bands the baby boomers formed after the Beatles broke.
So what you've got here is a contrast between tradition and free-thinking, between yesterday and today. And mixed in is the Romani business, in this case drug-dealing.
And then there are the kids Gita goes to school with. She tells them she is from Brazil, so they don't judge her negatively as Romani. Kids can be cruel. And there is a dependence on the church, on the priest, in this very Catholic country. Outside the family home everybody is living a modern life, yet they are thousands of miles away from America. But they've been influenced by America.
So Gita's father, Marko, is warm but weak, he wants to satiate Gita, not step on her hopes and dreams, but he is hamstrung by his debt to the family.
As for Gita's mother...she's burdened by the fact that Marko rescued her from the poor Romani, and she doesn't want to go back to a life of little.
And the grandmother has the ultimate say, but as warm as she can be, she is not going to sacrifice her Romani traditions.
And Marko's brother Stefan runs the family business, with an iron fist.
And...
"Infamy" is somewhat impressionistic. In that the narrative does not plot out perfectly, as in the story does not necessarily go from A to B to C. Or let me just say there are musical interludes.
I found "Infamy" through the "New York Times," it's now got an 86 on the audience TomatoMeter, but when I started watching it the series was unrated. Meanwhile, that 86 number is based on only seven reviews.
I thought with the promo in the "Times" and the Netflix imprimatur that "Infamy" would get more traction, but that does not appear to be the case.
I don't recommend "Infamy" absolutely. I don't think everybody will watch it and love it. But if you are the kind of person who believes foreign series are usually more authentic than American ones, who wants their horizons expanded, who wants a series they can tell their friends about...watch it.
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Aaron Neville-This Week's Podcast
Aaron Neville has a new autobiography, "Tell It Like It Is," wherein he is brutally honest about his life...his drug use, his joyriding, his incarceration and his ultimate musical triumph. We delve into the highlights of Aaron's life here.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/aaron-neville-123217299/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aaron-neville/id1316200737?i=1000627843448
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cc7mi5Y2V4tSD0Dlm81M3?si=p3GTdD7DT2SyW1wSM5lf8A
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a8ac2b9c-1dcd-4662-a7a3-3afbfef0e729/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-aaron-neville
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/aaron-neville-123217299/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aaron-neville/id1316200737?i=1000627843448
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cc7mi5Y2V4tSD0Dlm81M3?si=p3GTdD7DT2SyW1wSM5lf8A
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a8ac2b9c-1dcd-4662-a7a3-3afbfef0e729/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-aaron-neville
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Wednesday 13 September 2023
VMA Ratings Up!
"After a couple of relatively lean years for on-air viewing, the MTV Video Music Awards bounced back some on Tuesday. Preliminary Nielsen ratings have the show drawing 865,000 viewers on MTV, a 37 percent jump from the early numbers for the 2022 VMAs."
https://tinyurl.com/msfm6afw
What a joke. The local TikTok influencer in your backyard gets more than a million views, but don't let the facts, the spin, the numbers, get in the way of a good story, a good headline.
As a matter of fact, you should read this "Wall Street Journal" story about influencers that kids love, that parents do not:
"Parents Are Baffled by the Celebrities Their Kids Love - 'Who is that? What is that?' The entertainment gulf has never been wider. Children today prefer the likes of MrBeast."
https://tinyurl.com/4jranar7
That's a free link, and you should read it. Well, at least part of it. Forget Mr. Beast in the headline, whom you might have heard of. There's Dhatboiitre, who is a clothing store clerk, with 1.1 million followers. Not only are the parents clueless, illustrating that there is a generation gap as big as there was in the sixties, but the stars are regionalized and not known to the masses.
So if the VMAs, which featured uber-star Taylor Swift, as well as Nicki Minaj, breaking star Ice Spice, SZA, Selena Gomez, Måneskin and even a reunion of 'NSYNC couldn't even reach a measly million people what are your odds of world domination? Essentially nil.
But don't get depressed, today it's about your vertical and nothing else. Your fans. There is no mass raining down. It's only you. Grow your fan base, own it and ignore those invested in a recording industry that's been truly broken for years, one in which there is a chart but most people haven't heard any of the hits and don't care to.
For example, read this article from "The Guardian":
"'She is a snake - in the most positive way!' How Taylor Swift became the world's biggest pop star, again"
https://tinyurl.com/2mkn8xn3
This is a lengthy explanation of how Taylor Swift recovered from the backlash of the 1989 fallout (you do know about this, right, just like you known John Lennon said that his band was bigger than God?) to triumph again.
But what does that triumph look like:
"Today there is less of a monoculture, and conversation is chiefly driven by users of TikTok, Reddit and X. The fandoms that have emerged on those social media platforms are siloed and diffuse; the algorithms that serve users content are prone to showing them things they are already predisposed to like. This ecosystem has spawned celebrities such as the video game-esque vlogger Pinkydoll, dancer turned pop star Addison Rae and riot-causing Twitch streamer Kai Cenat – hugely famous to those who are interested, largely unknown to those who are not.
"'We're in the era of everyone being a cult star, from Taylor, down to Charli XCX,' says Mandelbaum. 'There is less imperative for pop stars to create music that's all-encompassing; all Taylor has to do is play into what her fans want from her.' Swift can be the most famous person in the world to those who love her, while remaining out of the feeds of those who don't."
That's right, you read it here, Taylor Swift, the summer's biggest star, owner of more ink than seemingly anybody in show business, is a cult star. She doesn't reach everybody. It's all a hype. Most people don't care, can't sing a single song and are living their lives happily Swift-free.
And this is not a put-down of Swift, once again, Swift is the BIGGEST star out there! And if Swift is a cult star, what are you?
So the VMAs... Do you even know what channel MTV is on? Does the target audience, one which has cut the cord, doesn't watch cable, never mind streaming television? For all I know, they simulcast the VMAs online. I could look it up, but I don't care. The bottom line is either most of the target audience was unaware or didn't care. And the target audience does not believe in appointment television anyway. And this is not the old days, with endless repeats adding to total viewership across all Viacom properties, hell the company isn't even called Viacom anymore! Sure, they might cut up some segments for views on social media, but as per above, your feed isn't going to show you what you do not like. So you'll be unaware.
But the ratings are up! What a bunch of hogwash. The supposed biggest stars in music can't even get a million people interested? Then how big can these stars be? Hell, they had a Republican debate last month on Fox and it reached 12.8 million viewers, illustrating that politics today is more powerful than music. And Trump wasn't even there! A new star was minted, Vivek Ramaswamy, and the music industry can't even mint a new star at all, never mind overnight.
Then again, politics is the story of our era, so much is at stake. And it's not like we're listening to Bob Dylan telling us which way the wind blows. Today's "stars" are brands, mini-empires, built for blind adoration and to sell you stuff. Where's the attraction in that?
But these VMA ratings prove one thing first and foremost, that the old model is broken. Today, it's all about the road. After all, promoters guarantee millions and record companies dribble out a de minimis amount with all these promises about the future...they'll get you on terrestrial radio which the target audience doesn't listen to, they'll get you on network and cable TV, which the audience doesn't even have access to, having cut the cord. But sign away your life because we were the titans of yore. Strip the three majors of their catalogs and they've got little, they excised so many workers in search of a higher bottom line. But the truth is these companies have already been disrupted. Because they're unneeded in a world where social media stars are bigger than the acts they promote.
There are a zillion acts today, and so many are doing business. Stop listening to the uninformed bozos complaining about streaming payouts. They don't understand the market, believe me, my inbox demonstrates this. They don't know the difference between an on demand stream and a radio/algorithmic stream payout. Even worse, they're unaware of who owns how much of the song they're complaining about. You can make tons of bread via streaming, it pays out the majority of what it takes in in royalties. So, either you have a bad deal or nobody is listening. The latter is usually the case. That's your job, to get people to listen. And if they're not, maybe you're not good enough, or you don't know how to market in today's world. But you can still make beaucoup bucks on the road.
Oh, don't talk about ticketing fees and other b.s. This is just like politics, the tyranny of the minority. Those who cannot sell tickets complaining about the splits. Believe me, if you can draw people in consistently, in numbers, you can write your own deal. But, once again, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Everything is niche, everything is a cult, nothing is mass. And social media stars triumph because of their humanity and cutting edge antics, something absent from mainstream media where the rough edges are shorn off.
Mitt Romney retired today. Music would be better if all the baby boomers retired from the major labels. They're operating in a past that no longer exists, they refuse to modernize for a modern world wherein a mass of cult stars is the way to win, not moonshots, a few records gussied up with hype. That's a recipe for failure, because most people just don't care.
The recording industry has been disrupted and no one even notices. I'm not talking about distribution, which was the story of the first decade of this century, I'm talking about content. The percentage of listening the hits get is declining. Can we at least acknowledge we're in a new era?
What kind of crazy, f*cked up world do we live in where the "Wall Street Journal" and the "Guardian" are more insightful re the music business and stardom than any of the rags, the dribble of drivel, put out by the music industry and its acolytes?
One in which purveyors still believe obfuscation and lies work, that hype is enough, and stars are smaller than they've ever been, no matter how much they're promoted.
We live in a new world.
And if the headlines in these news outlets tell us that ratings went up, missing the story completely, which is that almost no one was watching, what are they getting wrong about the big issues, like in the aforementioned politics? We're looking for some truth, give us some truth, but John Lennon is long gone. Each of us is on our own hejira, personalized to us, mass is a fiction of yore, for non-thinking fans at best.
This is the world we live in.
Long live the cult!
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https://tinyurl.com/msfm6afw
What a joke. The local TikTok influencer in your backyard gets more than a million views, but don't let the facts, the spin, the numbers, get in the way of a good story, a good headline.
As a matter of fact, you should read this "Wall Street Journal" story about influencers that kids love, that parents do not:
"Parents Are Baffled by the Celebrities Their Kids Love - 'Who is that? What is that?' The entertainment gulf has never been wider. Children today prefer the likes of MrBeast."
https://tinyurl.com/4jranar7
That's a free link, and you should read it. Well, at least part of it. Forget Mr. Beast in the headline, whom you might have heard of. There's Dhatboiitre, who is a clothing store clerk, with 1.1 million followers. Not only are the parents clueless, illustrating that there is a generation gap as big as there was in the sixties, but the stars are regionalized and not known to the masses.
So if the VMAs, which featured uber-star Taylor Swift, as well as Nicki Minaj, breaking star Ice Spice, SZA, Selena Gomez, Måneskin and even a reunion of 'NSYNC couldn't even reach a measly million people what are your odds of world domination? Essentially nil.
But don't get depressed, today it's about your vertical and nothing else. Your fans. There is no mass raining down. It's only you. Grow your fan base, own it and ignore those invested in a recording industry that's been truly broken for years, one in which there is a chart but most people haven't heard any of the hits and don't care to.
For example, read this article from "The Guardian":
"'She is a snake - in the most positive way!' How Taylor Swift became the world's biggest pop star, again"
https://tinyurl.com/2mkn8xn3
This is a lengthy explanation of how Taylor Swift recovered from the backlash of the 1989 fallout (you do know about this, right, just like you known John Lennon said that his band was bigger than God?) to triumph again.
But what does that triumph look like:
"Today there is less of a monoculture, and conversation is chiefly driven by users of TikTok, Reddit and X. The fandoms that have emerged on those social media platforms are siloed and diffuse; the algorithms that serve users content are prone to showing them things they are already predisposed to like. This ecosystem has spawned celebrities such as the video game-esque vlogger Pinkydoll, dancer turned pop star Addison Rae and riot-causing Twitch streamer Kai Cenat – hugely famous to those who are interested, largely unknown to those who are not.
"'We're in the era of everyone being a cult star, from Taylor, down to Charli XCX,' says Mandelbaum. 'There is less imperative for pop stars to create music that's all-encompassing; all Taylor has to do is play into what her fans want from her.' Swift can be the most famous person in the world to those who love her, while remaining out of the feeds of those who don't."
That's right, you read it here, Taylor Swift, the summer's biggest star, owner of more ink than seemingly anybody in show business, is a cult star. She doesn't reach everybody. It's all a hype. Most people don't care, can't sing a single song and are living their lives happily Swift-free.
And this is not a put-down of Swift, once again, Swift is the BIGGEST star out there! And if Swift is a cult star, what are you?
So the VMAs... Do you even know what channel MTV is on? Does the target audience, one which has cut the cord, doesn't watch cable, never mind streaming television? For all I know, they simulcast the VMAs online. I could look it up, but I don't care. The bottom line is either most of the target audience was unaware or didn't care. And the target audience does not believe in appointment television anyway. And this is not the old days, with endless repeats adding to total viewership across all Viacom properties, hell the company isn't even called Viacom anymore! Sure, they might cut up some segments for views on social media, but as per above, your feed isn't going to show you what you do not like. So you'll be unaware.
But the ratings are up! What a bunch of hogwash. The supposed biggest stars in music can't even get a million people interested? Then how big can these stars be? Hell, they had a Republican debate last month on Fox and it reached 12.8 million viewers, illustrating that politics today is more powerful than music. And Trump wasn't even there! A new star was minted, Vivek Ramaswamy, and the music industry can't even mint a new star at all, never mind overnight.
Then again, politics is the story of our era, so much is at stake. And it's not like we're listening to Bob Dylan telling us which way the wind blows. Today's "stars" are brands, mini-empires, built for blind adoration and to sell you stuff. Where's the attraction in that?
But these VMA ratings prove one thing first and foremost, that the old model is broken. Today, it's all about the road. After all, promoters guarantee millions and record companies dribble out a de minimis amount with all these promises about the future...they'll get you on terrestrial radio which the target audience doesn't listen to, they'll get you on network and cable TV, which the audience doesn't even have access to, having cut the cord. But sign away your life because we were the titans of yore. Strip the three majors of their catalogs and they've got little, they excised so many workers in search of a higher bottom line. But the truth is these companies have already been disrupted. Because they're unneeded in a world where social media stars are bigger than the acts they promote.
There are a zillion acts today, and so many are doing business. Stop listening to the uninformed bozos complaining about streaming payouts. They don't understand the market, believe me, my inbox demonstrates this. They don't know the difference between an on demand stream and a radio/algorithmic stream payout. Even worse, they're unaware of who owns how much of the song they're complaining about. You can make tons of bread via streaming, it pays out the majority of what it takes in in royalties. So, either you have a bad deal or nobody is listening. The latter is usually the case. That's your job, to get people to listen. And if they're not, maybe you're not good enough, or you don't know how to market in today's world. But you can still make beaucoup bucks on the road.
Oh, don't talk about ticketing fees and other b.s. This is just like politics, the tyranny of the minority. Those who cannot sell tickets complaining about the splits. Believe me, if you can draw people in consistently, in numbers, you can write your own deal. But, once again, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Everything is niche, everything is a cult, nothing is mass. And social media stars triumph because of their humanity and cutting edge antics, something absent from mainstream media where the rough edges are shorn off.
Mitt Romney retired today. Music would be better if all the baby boomers retired from the major labels. They're operating in a past that no longer exists, they refuse to modernize for a modern world wherein a mass of cult stars is the way to win, not moonshots, a few records gussied up with hype. That's a recipe for failure, because most people just don't care.
The recording industry has been disrupted and no one even notices. I'm not talking about distribution, which was the story of the first decade of this century, I'm talking about content. The percentage of listening the hits get is declining. Can we at least acknowledge we're in a new era?
What kind of crazy, f*cked up world do we live in where the "Wall Street Journal" and the "Guardian" are more insightful re the music business and stardom than any of the rags, the dribble of drivel, put out by the music industry and its acolytes?
One in which purveyors still believe obfuscation and lies work, that hype is enough, and stars are smaller than they've ever been, no matter how much they're promoted.
We live in a new world.
And if the headlines in these news outlets tell us that ratings went up, missing the story completely, which is that almost no one was watching, what are they getting wrong about the big issues, like in the aforementioned politics? We're looking for some truth, give us some truth, but John Lennon is long gone. Each of us is on our own hejira, personalized to us, mass is a fiction of yore, for non-thinking fans at best.
This is the world we live in.
Long live the cult!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Sunday 10 September 2023
Silk
Preview: https://tinyurl.com/4enp5ktc
This is the show I was talking about, you know, the one from the BBC, on Amazon Prime.
My number one criterion for a streaming series is that it holds my attention, that my mind doesn't wander, that I'm immersed in it. And "Silk" delivered on this premise. And I heartily recommend it.
Once again, "Silk" is a legal drama. And that is a time-worn paradigm, something you're familiar with. But unlike American legal dramas "Silk" is focused primarily on the law, what happens in the office and in the courtroom, as opposed to the penumbra, i.e. the sex lives of the characters. The characters in "Silk" are three-dimensional as a result of what they say, that's what sharp writing delivers. As for exactly who they are outside of the office, there's an air of mystery. We know very little about Billy Lamb, the Shoe Lane clerk.
You might know Neil Stuke, who plays Billy Lamb, from "Hijack," the Apple series headlined by Idris Elba. I recommend "Hijack," primarily because Elba is so damn good. I usually roll my eyes when I see a plane in jeopardy film, but this is different. Elba emanates strength, and a degree of omniscience, yet he is not infallible. "Hijack" is not laden with meaning, but it's a good ride, not only a roller coaster, there's an intellectual component. I waited for all the episodes of "Hijack" to be aired before I partook. You want to stay in the mood. A cliffhanger that makes you wait interminably...that's "Dallas," the seventies, and we now live in the third decade of the twenty first century.
Now while I've got you can I crap all over the other Apple series everybody's talking about, "Drops of God"? Phenomenal production values, but the story is shallow. I'm looking for something deeper. I don't want entertainment, something I can instantly forget, but something that sticks with me.
So you probably won't know the lead in "Silk," Maxine Peake, who plays Martha Costello. She was in the U.K. version of "Shameless," and she was actually in an episode of "Black Mirror," which I did not see, but she is not like David Tennant and so many of the English actors that seem to pop up regularly in English series. As a matter of fact, Peake has spent a lot of time on the stage, which translates across the pond to the hoi polloi almost not at all.
Yes, Costello is steely. But she is not one-dimensional, she has a sex life. But she's dedicated to her job. Costello rings true, as opposed to the female lawyers in most American series. You've got to be dedicated to your job to make Silk.
Yes, "Silk." It's the highest rank of English barrister.
You do know that barristers go to court, whereas solicitors do not. However I hear that is changing, that some solicitors can now go to court. But Shoe Lane is just solicitors, and Billy, the clerk, who wheels and deals for cases, sees the firm as representing defendants, as opposed to one that prosecutes. This ultimately becomes a plot point.
Be sure to watch "Silk" with subtitles on. Because you'll get confused. Not only by the language, but by the unfamiliar British legal system.
And there are plot twists, that's the nature of shows like this, but you don't wince when the screw turns.
As far as the other cast members... Rupert Penry-Jones plays Martha's suitemate, Clive Reader. Reader is akin to Bill Clinton, a brilliant lawyer who too often is ruled by the little head and makes bad judgments. He's not constantly crossing the line ethically, but he does stuff we know better not to.
And then there's the younger generation, the pupils. You've seen Tom Hughes in "Victoria." Natalie Dormer was in "Game of Thrones. You might recognize Shaun Evans, I did.
And then there are the other clerks. And ultimately Miranda Raison, who you will recognize from "Match Point," if nothing else, but she does not appear until season three.
Yes, there are three seasons, comprised of six episodes each, all an hour. It's not a huge commitment, then again when it's over you'll be disappointed, you'll hunger for more.
The barristers of Shoe Lane are overworked, and not always prepared. They might have to go to court on a case they've just gotten that morning. But this is the way it is. If you want a better defense, you've got to be able to afford it. Then again, oftentimes the game is more important than the facts. The details might ultimately be irrelevant, it's about telling a story to the jury so you'll win.
"Silk" is not the best TV series I've viewed. Far from it. But it's definitely in that upper echelon of shows worth watching, when it's over you won't feel like you wasted your time.
"Silk" comes with Amazon Prime, so you don't need to subscribe to another streaming service to watch it. And if you don't have Amazon Prime...then you're probably not watching much streaming television to begin with.
We're watching this new Polish series now, which doesn't even have a rating on RottenTomatoes yet. And I don't want to give you any more, because it won't be that hard to guess, and we're only two episodes in, out of eight. I really wanted to write about it last night, because of its visceral quality, but once again, I know in their enthusiasm people would tell me the ending, and I don't want that.
As for RottenTomatoes, there's a great exposé in "New York" magazine's "Vulture":
https://tinyurl.com/y667ka3v
It's a game, and it can be manipulated. However, I'm less worried about shows that reach my personal threshold of 80% than those that do not. In other words, I'd rather risk a show with a rating higher than 80% to be lousy than one with a lesser percentage being great. And the more reviews there are, the more accurate the number. Yet with many foreign shows, there is no rating at all. But if you've heard about them to begin with, that means someone is championing them. Also, you can always do further research, I do.
So watch "Silk," you'll like it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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This is the show I was talking about, you know, the one from the BBC, on Amazon Prime.
My number one criterion for a streaming series is that it holds my attention, that my mind doesn't wander, that I'm immersed in it. And "Silk" delivered on this premise. And I heartily recommend it.
Once again, "Silk" is a legal drama. And that is a time-worn paradigm, something you're familiar with. But unlike American legal dramas "Silk" is focused primarily on the law, what happens in the office and in the courtroom, as opposed to the penumbra, i.e. the sex lives of the characters. The characters in "Silk" are three-dimensional as a result of what they say, that's what sharp writing delivers. As for exactly who they are outside of the office, there's an air of mystery. We know very little about Billy Lamb, the Shoe Lane clerk.
You might know Neil Stuke, who plays Billy Lamb, from "Hijack," the Apple series headlined by Idris Elba. I recommend "Hijack," primarily because Elba is so damn good. I usually roll my eyes when I see a plane in jeopardy film, but this is different. Elba emanates strength, and a degree of omniscience, yet he is not infallible. "Hijack" is not laden with meaning, but it's a good ride, not only a roller coaster, there's an intellectual component. I waited for all the episodes of "Hijack" to be aired before I partook. You want to stay in the mood. A cliffhanger that makes you wait interminably...that's "Dallas," the seventies, and we now live in the third decade of the twenty first century.
Now while I've got you can I crap all over the other Apple series everybody's talking about, "Drops of God"? Phenomenal production values, but the story is shallow. I'm looking for something deeper. I don't want entertainment, something I can instantly forget, but something that sticks with me.
So you probably won't know the lead in "Silk," Maxine Peake, who plays Martha Costello. She was in the U.K. version of "Shameless," and she was actually in an episode of "Black Mirror," which I did not see, but she is not like David Tennant and so many of the English actors that seem to pop up regularly in English series. As a matter of fact, Peake has spent a lot of time on the stage, which translates across the pond to the hoi polloi almost not at all.
Yes, Costello is steely. But she is not one-dimensional, she has a sex life. But she's dedicated to her job. Costello rings true, as opposed to the female lawyers in most American series. You've got to be dedicated to your job to make Silk.
Yes, "Silk." It's the highest rank of English barrister.
You do know that barristers go to court, whereas solicitors do not. However I hear that is changing, that some solicitors can now go to court. But Shoe Lane is just solicitors, and Billy, the clerk, who wheels and deals for cases, sees the firm as representing defendants, as opposed to one that prosecutes. This ultimately becomes a plot point.
Be sure to watch "Silk" with subtitles on. Because you'll get confused. Not only by the language, but by the unfamiliar British legal system.
And there are plot twists, that's the nature of shows like this, but you don't wince when the screw turns.
As far as the other cast members... Rupert Penry-Jones plays Martha's suitemate, Clive Reader. Reader is akin to Bill Clinton, a brilliant lawyer who too often is ruled by the little head and makes bad judgments. He's not constantly crossing the line ethically, but he does stuff we know better not to.
And then there's the younger generation, the pupils. You've seen Tom Hughes in "Victoria." Natalie Dormer was in "Game of Thrones. You might recognize Shaun Evans, I did.
And then there are the other clerks. And ultimately Miranda Raison, who you will recognize from "Match Point," if nothing else, but she does not appear until season three.
Yes, there are three seasons, comprised of six episodes each, all an hour. It's not a huge commitment, then again when it's over you'll be disappointed, you'll hunger for more.
The barristers of Shoe Lane are overworked, and not always prepared. They might have to go to court on a case they've just gotten that morning. But this is the way it is. If you want a better defense, you've got to be able to afford it. Then again, oftentimes the game is more important than the facts. The details might ultimately be irrelevant, it's about telling a story to the jury so you'll win.
"Silk" is not the best TV series I've viewed. Far from it. But it's definitely in that upper echelon of shows worth watching, when it's over you won't feel like you wasted your time.
"Silk" comes with Amazon Prime, so you don't need to subscribe to another streaming service to watch it. And if you don't have Amazon Prime...then you're probably not watching much streaming television to begin with.
We're watching this new Polish series now, which doesn't even have a rating on RottenTomatoes yet. And I don't want to give you any more, because it won't be that hard to guess, and we're only two episodes in, out of eight. I really wanted to write about it last night, because of its visceral quality, but once again, I know in their enthusiasm people would tell me the ending, and I don't want that.
As for RottenTomatoes, there's a great exposé in "New York" magazine's "Vulture":
https://tinyurl.com/y667ka3v
It's a game, and it can be manipulated. However, I'm less worried about shows that reach my personal threshold of 80% than those that do not. In other words, I'd rather risk a show with a rating higher than 80% to be lousy than one with a lesser percentage being great. And the more reviews there are, the more accurate the number. Yet with many foreign shows, there is no rating at all. But if you've heard about them to begin with, that means someone is championing them. Also, you can always do further research, I do.
So watch "Silk," you'll like it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Angry
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4v92pkwh
It's catchy, but it makes me miss Charlie. The man with the simple kit who seemed to fade into the background but ultimately was the underpinning, the driving force of the Stones. The driving beat here is the antithesis of what Charlie would play. It's mechanical, soulless, like too much of today's made for the Spotify Top 50 music.
And there's a sheen, the surface is smooth, akin to metal, whereas the feel of the best Stones material has a porous quality, and it's these holes that capture you, that make the song interesting, it's the difference between wood and steel, between mystery and obvious, between dark and light, between the ability to add your own thoughts and feelings and them being excluded.
But "Angry" is much better than what we anticipated. I played it once and it stuck in my head, ergo the "catchy" comment above. But I cannot write about the track without speaking of the execrable press conference hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Fallon is the antithesis of credible, sunny when the Stones specialize in dark. To see these eighty year olds riff with Fallon was like seeing your grandpa trying to be cool with a guy who has no idea what cool is. Who thinks smiling and cracking jokes makes you so. Jimmy is the class clown. The Stones were the silent art kids in the back of the room, if they attended school at all.
But at least there's new music.
Yet by employing Fallon it demonstrates how out of touch the marketing mastermind Mick Jagger now is. If he wanted to be au courant, he would have been interviewed by an influencer, posted to TikTok, and then cross-posted to Instagram and YouTube. You know Mick is dying to look young and hip and with it, but employing Fallon shows a lack of understanding of the marketplace. I doubt Mick watches Fallon, nor does he know that almost no one does watch these late night shows. And when it comes to music you use the other Jimmy, Kimmel, not Fallon.
And at this late date, the simplistic lyrics of "Angry" make me wince. The audience, the Stones fanatics, got older, yet the Stones are stuck in time. I mean you've lived for eight decades on the planet, and the only wisdom you can impart is "Don't get angry with me"?
But that's the chorus, the hook. The verses made me wince. Barely superior to what a seventh grader would come up with. Sure, the blues format is historically simple, yet when you've got a rich man sticking with tradition it's akin to slumming. The modern day bluesmen, the rappers, they do just the opposite, they boast about what they have, at length and oftentimes eloquently. Which makes the Stones appear out of time. Then again, that album track from 1967's "Flowers" was better than "Angry."
We're all old now, we've all grown up, we're experienced, we've matured, but too many of our acts have not. Give Peter Frampton credit, he lost his hair and owns it. And his great triumphs of recent years are instrumental albums, demonstrating his guitar prowess. Frampton is exploring, growing, stretching, whereas the Stones seem incapable of this.
Yes, we've seen the classic rock acts over and over over the past decades. First to remember, and then not to forget. Yes, we've got to see them one last time before they die. But they've too often become calcified. They get plastic surgery, wear hairpieces, do their best to look like they did in the seventies when we, the audience, are in our seventies. It's like watching a movie as opposed to something that lives and breathes.
The Stones had an opportunity. And they punted. They used Andrew Watt, hitmaker du jour, and "Angry" sounds like it, something was lost in translation, from yesterday to today.
Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. Don't say I can't criticize Mick and Keith. If we don't point out their flaws, then they can't get angry and deliver something that will be remembered, as opposed to that which is momentary. "Exile On Main Street" was released in 1972 and almost promptly forgotten. Then Linda Ronstadt resuscitated "Tumbling Dice" and the double album was in the marketplace long enough for people to penetrate it. Sure, there are tracks like "Satisfaction," that you only need to hear once to get, then there are others that need to marinate to reveal their excellence. Meanwhile, "Satisfaction" was a detailed statement, whereas "Angry" is almost an abdication.
So rock is still dead. We're waiting for someone to bring it back. But in order to do this you've got to forget about commerciality. "Angry" isn't going to be on Top Forty radio, it's not going to be a hit, it's going to be forgotten almost instantly. But the Stones can still sell tickets. Now is the time to stretch out, take chances, when no one is paying attention.
As for producers...
The Stones would have been better off with Rick Rubin, who is not a knob-twirler, but someone who haunts you psychologically until you deliver your best work. Rubin is an arbiter. He tries to get you into the head of when you were best. He wants you to resent him. But Rubin is the audience, he can separate the wheat from the chaff. That's what a producer does, inspire. There are a zillion people who can spin the dials, but there are a limited few who can inspire.
Music is personal. We want that which inspires, which we want to embrace, hold near and dear, to carry us though this life fraught with challenges. The Stones made a record for those who don't exist...young people who want oldsters making rock music with today's sheen. There's almost no market for that. But there is a market made up of those who don't care about the hit parade, who lived and died for music and are just looking for new stuff to satiate, to debate.
"Angry" isn't it.
Stones with Fallon: https://tinyurl.com/2xv9jzbr
--
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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It's catchy, but it makes me miss Charlie. The man with the simple kit who seemed to fade into the background but ultimately was the underpinning, the driving force of the Stones. The driving beat here is the antithesis of what Charlie would play. It's mechanical, soulless, like too much of today's made for the Spotify Top 50 music.
And there's a sheen, the surface is smooth, akin to metal, whereas the feel of the best Stones material has a porous quality, and it's these holes that capture you, that make the song interesting, it's the difference between wood and steel, between mystery and obvious, between dark and light, between the ability to add your own thoughts and feelings and them being excluded.
But "Angry" is much better than what we anticipated. I played it once and it stuck in my head, ergo the "catchy" comment above. But I cannot write about the track without speaking of the execrable press conference hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Fallon is the antithesis of credible, sunny when the Stones specialize in dark. To see these eighty year olds riff with Fallon was like seeing your grandpa trying to be cool with a guy who has no idea what cool is. Who thinks smiling and cracking jokes makes you so. Jimmy is the class clown. The Stones were the silent art kids in the back of the room, if they attended school at all.
But at least there's new music.
Yet by employing Fallon it demonstrates how out of touch the marketing mastermind Mick Jagger now is. If he wanted to be au courant, he would have been interviewed by an influencer, posted to TikTok, and then cross-posted to Instagram and YouTube. You know Mick is dying to look young and hip and with it, but employing Fallon shows a lack of understanding of the marketplace. I doubt Mick watches Fallon, nor does he know that almost no one does watch these late night shows. And when it comes to music you use the other Jimmy, Kimmel, not Fallon.
And at this late date, the simplistic lyrics of "Angry" make me wince. The audience, the Stones fanatics, got older, yet the Stones are stuck in time. I mean you've lived for eight decades on the planet, and the only wisdom you can impart is "Don't get angry with me"?
But that's the chorus, the hook. The verses made me wince. Barely superior to what a seventh grader would come up with. Sure, the blues format is historically simple, yet when you've got a rich man sticking with tradition it's akin to slumming. The modern day bluesmen, the rappers, they do just the opposite, they boast about what they have, at length and oftentimes eloquently. Which makes the Stones appear out of time. Then again, that album track from 1967's "Flowers" was better than "Angry."
We're all old now, we've all grown up, we're experienced, we've matured, but too many of our acts have not. Give Peter Frampton credit, he lost his hair and owns it. And his great triumphs of recent years are instrumental albums, demonstrating his guitar prowess. Frampton is exploring, growing, stretching, whereas the Stones seem incapable of this.
Yes, we've seen the classic rock acts over and over over the past decades. First to remember, and then not to forget. Yes, we've got to see them one last time before they die. But they've too often become calcified. They get plastic surgery, wear hairpieces, do their best to look like they did in the seventies when we, the audience, are in our seventies. It's like watching a movie as opposed to something that lives and breathes.
The Stones had an opportunity. And they punted. They used Andrew Watt, hitmaker du jour, and "Angry" sounds like it, something was lost in translation, from yesterday to today.
Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. Don't say I can't criticize Mick and Keith. If we don't point out their flaws, then they can't get angry and deliver something that will be remembered, as opposed to that which is momentary. "Exile On Main Street" was released in 1972 and almost promptly forgotten. Then Linda Ronstadt resuscitated "Tumbling Dice" and the double album was in the marketplace long enough for people to penetrate it. Sure, there are tracks like "Satisfaction," that you only need to hear once to get, then there are others that need to marinate to reveal their excellence. Meanwhile, "Satisfaction" was a detailed statement, whereas "Angry" is almost an abdication.
So rock is still dead. We're waiting for someone to bring it back. But in order to do this you've got to forget about commerciality. "Angry" isn't going to be on Top Forty radio, it's not going to be a hit, it's going to be forgotten almost instantly. But the Stones can still sell tickets. Now is the time to stretch out, take chances, when no one is paying attention.
As for producers...
The Stones would have been better off with Rick Rubin, who is not a knob-twirler, but someone who haunts you psychologically until you deliver your best work. Rubin is an arbiter. He tries to get you into the head of when you were best. He wants you to resent him. But Rubin is the audience, he can separate the wheat from the chaff. That's what a producer does, inspire. There are a zillion people who can spin the dials, but there are a limited few who can inspire.
Music is personal. We want that which inspires, which we want to embrace, hold near and dear, to carry us though this life fraught with challenges. The Stones made a record for those who don't exist...young people who want oldsters making rock music with today's sheen. There's almost no market for that. But there is a market made up of those who don't care about the hit parade, who lived and died for music and are just looking for new stuff to satiate, to debate.
"Angry" isn't it.
Stones with Fallon: https://tinyurl.com/2xv9jzbr
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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