Tune in Saturday December 23rd to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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Friday 22 December 2023
The Golden Hour
If this was in English, it would be the talk of the town, one of, if not the biggest show of the holiday season. As it is, it's number 5 on Netflix right now, and I recommend it.
"The Golden Hour" is a Dutch show and you won't know what is going on at first, then it will become clear, and then you'll think it's just another genre piece, a well-done imitation of an American production, but at the end you'll think it's better than that.
Netflix is killing its competitors. And it's down to one thing and one thing only, product. The rest of the services don't have enough. Disney thought its brand was sufficient, that if you added new "Star Wars" productions to children's fare it'd be must-see TV.
But that's not how it works anymore. Because we no longer live in a monoculture. Even if "The Golden Hour" were the talk of the town, it wouldn't be anywhere near as big as a show in the three/four network world, even the cable world. Today there's so much product no one can consume it all, no one can get a grip. You forage and find what rings a bell...
Or you don't.
I found out about "The Golden Hour" from a reader. I checked the ratings, they were good, so I dove in.
So what we've got here is an Afghani guy on the Dutch police force who they think is a terrorist. You know, because you just can't trust someone who looks different from you. The cop's allegiance must be to Afghanistan, after all he went there recently. So, despite being married to a Dutch woman, and having a kid, he's not to be trusted, guilty until proven innocent.
And despite all of our nation's adventures in Afghanistan, the average American won't be clear what the beef is. That's half a world away, not in our ballpark. We've got to sit on the couch and get high and watch sports. But those abused people back there, they just can't get over it.
International TV is where it's at. Think about it, the U.S. is just one country, think of all the rest of the nations making television, and why should they make crappy television? Too many Americans see the rest of the world as backward, when that trope expired with the last century. They've got smartphones everywhere. And a cornucopia of entertainment offerings. And just like Depeche Mode sang, people are people. They just live somewhere else under different circumstances. International TV is eye-opening and educational, not as good as actually traveling to these countries, then again, how many Americans even have passports? We're so concerned with keeping people out that our eyes are shut as to what is really going on in the rest of the world.
And the production values of "The Golden Hour" are just as good as top-notch American ones. This is not the foreign flick of yore, all cerebral, made on a budget, with talking instead of action. You could remake this in America and it would be believable. But even after 9/11, even after 10/7, we think we're immune, that terrorism won't happen here. Unless maybe it's domestic terrorism.
As much as the right hates the left, that's how much certain people hate America. It's a delicate dance, keeping the States safe. As for burying our head in the ground, being isolated... Did you see that the U.S. is now buying Patriot missiles from Japan? How come people can't see that we live in an interconnected world. Wow, it's your responsibility to educate yourself. And you must peruse multiple sources. And you must be able to challenge your preconceptions.
The biggest story of the past two weeks, other than Trump being kicked off the ballot in Colorado, is how the right was right about college campuses.
The problem today is too many young people have not lived through the crises of the past. It's not only antisemitism, it's anti-vaccine hysteria. You'd think that vaccines were a nefarious plot to kill people. That the scientists and the government were in cahoots to take you out. You can't trust Big Pharma, you can't trust the government, everybody is corrupt.
But that is untrue. It's more chiaroscuro. Sure, Big Pharma has flaws, but it also creates life-saving drugs, which you're going to want, be begging for, if you're in the hospital. As for the government, starve it all you want, but then don't expect a handout when a natural disaster happens in your area, wiping out your assets.
But that's America, people live paycheck to paycheck, they're not prepared for the possible problem down the road. Like all the boomers who didn't save for retirement. They're never getting rid of Social Security, but the real story is you can't live on Social Security, that's the big issue. Expect more deaths of despair amongst oldsters in years to come.
Now this wouldn't be a diatribe about culture and politics if I thought "The Golden Hour" was a slam dunk. I'd rather rave unqualifiedly. But I can't.
Kinda like "A Murder at the End of the World." Boy was that disappointing in the end. When the characters start talking, explaining what is going on, moving the plot forward because it can't be shown, or won't be shown, that's when a series suffers.
But "The Golden Hour" is different. You'll be riveted. You won't know where it's going. And then you'll be disappointed because you're sure you know where it's going. But at the end you'll be left wondering.
"The Golden Hour" is intense. If you're the kind of person who can only watch upbeat TV, don't bother. But if you're aware that television is the number one art form in the world today, where story is king in a world where people live for story, I highly recommend it.
Go for the ride. It's quite a good one. It's gripping. And then it's over. And all you want to do is find another series. Not to escape, but to experience, to learn, to go down the rabbit hole and then resurface not being able to let go of what just went down.
All those lists of the top ten movies of the year... Think about it, the movie business is a disaster, it has not recovered from Covid, numbers are down, yet the critics and the outlets that feature them act like nothing's changed when everything has. Kind of like "Time" magazine's person of the year. When was the last time you read "Time," even saw it? In a world where "Sports Illustrated" articles are written by AI.
That's the story of today. You're in charge, across the board. There's no one person who can steer for you, clue you in as to what is going on. You've got to figure your path out for yourself. In music, television, politics... There's more information than ever before, and it's right at your fingertips. And the deeper you go the more exciting it becomes. Wow, I wish I grew up with the internet, I would have never been bored.
"The Golden Hour" is never boring. Put it on your holiday list.
--
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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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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"The Golden Hour" is a Dutch show and you won't know what is going on at first, then it will become clear, and then you'll think it's just another genre piece, a well-done imitation of an American production, but at the end you'll think it's better than that.
Netflix is killing its competitors. And it's down to one thing and one thing only, product. The rest of the services don't have enough. Disney thought its brand was sufficient, that if you added new "Star Wars" productions to children's fare it'd be must-see TV.
But that's not how it works anymore. Because we no longer live in a monoculture. Even if "The Golden Hour" were the talk of the town, it wouldn't be anywhere near as big as a show in the three/four network world, even the cable world. Today there's so much product no one can consume it all, no one can get a grip. You forage and find what rings a bell...
Or you don't.
I found out about "The Golden Hour" from a reader. I checked the ratings, they were good, so I dove in.
So what we've got here is an Afghani guy on the Dutch police force who they think is a terrorist. You know, because you just can't trust someone who looks different from you. The cop's allegiance must be to Afghanistan, after all he went there recently. So, despite being married to a Dutch woman, and having a kid, he's not to be trusted, guilty until proven innocent.
And despite all of our nation's adventures in Afghanistan, the average American won't be clear what the beef is. That's half a world away, not in our ballpark. We've got to sit on the couch and get high and watch sports. But those abused people back there, they just can't get over it.
International TV is where it's at. Think about it, the U.S. is just one country, think of all the rest of the nations making television, and why should they make crappy television? Too many Americans see the rest of the world as backward, when that trope expired with the last century. They've got smartphones everywhere. And a cornucopia of entertainment offerings. And just like Depeche Mode sang, people are people. They just live somewhere else under different circumstances. International TV is eye-opening and educational, not as good as actually traveling to these countries, then again, how many Americans even have passports? We're so concerned with keeping people out that our eyes are shut as to what is really going on in the rest of the world.
And the production values of "The Golden Hour" are just as good as top-notch American ones. This is not the foreign flick of yore, all cerebral, made on a budget, with talking instead of action. You could remake this in America and it would be believable. But even after 9/11, even after 10/7, we think we're immune, that terrorism won't happen here. Unless maybe it's domestic terrorism.
As much as the right hates the left, that's how much certain people hate America. It's a delicate dance, keeping the States safe. As for burying our head in the ground, being isolated... Did you see that the U.S. is now buying Patriot missiles from Japan? How come people can't see that we live in an interconnected world. Wow, it's your responsibility to educate yourself. And you must peruse multiple sources. And you must be able to challenge your preconceptions.
The biggest story of the past two weeks, other than Trump being kicked off the ballot in Colorado, is how the right was right about college campuses.
The problem today is too many young people have not lived through the crises of the past. It's not only antisemitism, it's anti-vaccine hysteria. You'd think that vaccines were a nefarious plot to kill people. That the scientists and the government were in cahoots to take you out. You can't trust Big Pharma, you can't trust the government, everybody is corrupt.
But that is untrue. It's more chiaroscuro. Sure, Big Pharma has flaws, but it also creates life-saving drugs, which you're going to want, be begging for, if you're in the hospital. As for the government, starve it all you want, but then don't expect a handout when a natural disaster happens in your area, wiping out your assets.
But that's America, people live paycheck to paycheck, they're not prepared for the possible problem down the road. Like all the boomers who didn't save for retirement. They're never getting rid of Social Security, but the real story is you can't live on Social Security, that's the big issue. Expect more deaths of despair amongst oldsters in years to come.
Now this wouldn't be a diatribe about culture and politics if I thought "The Golden Hour" was a slam dunk. I'd rather rave unqualifiedly. But I can't.
Kinda like "A Murder at the End of the World." Boy was that disappointing in the end. When the characters start talking, explaining what is going on, moving the plot forward because it can't be shown, or won't be shown, that's when a series suffers.
But "The Golden Hour" is different. You'll be riveted. You won't know where it's going. And then you'll be disappointed because you're sure you know where it's going. But at the end you'll be left wondering.
"The Golden Hour" is intense. If you're the kind of person who can only watch upbeat TV, don't bother. But if you're aware that television is the number one art form in the world today, where story is king in a world where people live for story, I highly recommend it.
Go for the ride. It's quite a good one. It's gripping. And then it's over. And all you want to do is find another series. Not to escape, but to experience, to learn, to go down the rabbit hole and then resurface not being able to let go of what just went down.
All those lists of the top ten movies of the year... Think about it, the movie business is a disaster, it has not recovered from Covid, numbers are down, yet the critics and the outlets that feature them act like nothing's changed when everything has. Kind of like "Time" magazine's person of the year. When was the last time you read "Time," even saw it? In a world where "Sports Illustrated" articles are written by AI.
That's the story of today. You're in charge, across the board. There's no one person who can steer for you, clue you in as to what is going on. You've got to figure your path out for yourself. In music, television, politics... There's more information than ever before, and it's right at your fingertips. And the deeper you go the more exciting it becomes. Wow, I wish I grew up with the internet, I would have never been bored.
"The Golden Hour" is never boring. Put it on your holiday list.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Thursday 21 December 2023
Stage Dolls
Spotify: http://tinyurl.com/4kvzx6ry
YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/4h6cracn
"Boy when you're all alone
Holdin' back when you wanna go
Take a stand 'cause it's not over now"
I was reading Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Shuffle," which is far superior to its sequel, "Crook Manifesto," when something made me think about Stage Dolls. Don't ask me why. That's how it works, when the day is deep, when you've got no obligations, that's when your mind drifts, when it becomes creative.
And I knew there was one amazing song on the album, not that I was sure of its name. I pulled up Spotify and decided to look for it. And that's when I found out Stage Dolls were still active. I'd forgotten they were Norwegian. As far as I knew there was only this one album, back in '88, on Chrysalis.
So I'm shifting through the options and I find the album I'm looking for. And I remember there was one really good rocker, but also an absolutely amazing moody cut, which one was which? And I'm staring at the track listing and I think the last song on the album is the moody killer, entitled "Ammunition," yet another memory has it earlier in the record. Am I going to have to listen to every cut on the album to find the one I desire to hear?
That was it, the last one, "Ammunition."
"It was early in the mornin'
Back when I was five
Somebody's knockin' on our front door
One chilly winter's night"
It felt so good, so right, it brought me right back to what once was.
You see CDs were once exotic, rare and expensive. And the goal was to work your way up in the business until you got on the mailing list, until you got CDs for free. And if you released a CD, you were above the fray. Most acts never got signed, if someone invested money in you your music was worth hearing. Well, if you were on Warner/Reprise, or Atlantic, and certainly Chrysalis. So I played every one.
Now I remember when Derek Shulman took over RoadRunner. He sent me a pile of CDs, and the one that resonated was Nickelback, I could hear it, this was long before "How You Remind Me," back before most people knew who Chad Kroeger was, never mind hated him and his band. There was no radio play, that was difficult to achieve, especially in the metropolis. Then there were CDs by acts I was familiar with, like Robin Trower. I immediately played his 1990 album "In the Line of Fire," it's really good, and unless you're a believer you've never heard it, I don't think radio ever played it.
Not that most of these CDs were worth playing more than once. But some were, and one was Stage Dolls.
Usually the first track is the best, and if it sucks it's hard to go much deeper into an album, but the opening cut of Stage Dolls' album was instantly memorable, it hooked me, it was called "Still in Love."
"New York City and I'm out with the boys
On 42nd Street makin' some noise
Another weekend and my baby's away
Temptation's drivin' me insane"
Funny that this Scandinavian band was singing about New York City.
But that's just the verse. There's a pre-chorus:
"Ain't makin' no promises I can't keep
'Cause I've got a lady back home
And she's waitin' there for me"
And a chorus:
"I'm in love, still in love
Oh-oh-oh
I'm in love, still in love
Oh-oh-oh"
Now if you were conscious in '88, if you were a devotee of rock, the sound will be so familiar, it's right in the pocket. This sound is expensive. You can't cut it at home. You need a big studio. But that was the paradigm back then. It's the sound of the guitar that closes you.
But was "Still in Love" the really good song I remembered along with "Ammunition"?
So I let the album play, into the second track, "Wings of Steel."
"Workin' in the city, it's a heartless city
Every day's the same
And I'm on the line from nine to five
Just playin' the game"
"Wings of Steel" is a bit quieter than "Still in Love," more meaningful, and the sound of the verse was great, but then I got to the accelerated chorus:
"I'll fly like an eagle wild
On wings of steel and thunder
I'll run with the wolves at night
I'll go where the action is
Ride fast on an endless highway
I'll fly like an eagle high"
And it sounded so good. Not like I'd just heard it yesterday, but like reconnecting with an old friend you went to camp with, someone you knew intimately, everything about them, but haven't spoken to in decades.
So that's three cuts that are ringing my bell, I decide to look at the complete track listing. And that's when I realize I know track 3, "Lorraine," by heart. And this seems so weird. This is just an album cut, not made to wow you, just for fans. And I know it as well as I know classics.
In truth this is a passé sound. As a matter of fact, it was squeezed off the airwaves by the Seattle sound, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit MTV in September 1991 and things were never the same. Kurt Cobain was authentic and credible in a way the hair bands never were, he didn't care what you thought, he wasn't pandering, he was just being himself.
And Stage Dolls had big hair. Not that they wrote a power ballad, at least not one I've heard, but they were definitely genre specific. But this kind of polished rock had a long run, from sometime in the seventies until the end of the eighties. And you might pooh-pooh it, call some of it yacht rock, but this was what dominated the airwaves back then, that resonated with the majority of the audience. We turned the records up loud on our multi-thousand dollar stereos. When our favorites played on the radio we moved our bodies, we banged our heads.
And today I hear so much that turns me right off.
But I'm listening to this Stage Dolls album and it's turning me right on.
Kinda like that Roxette album "Joyride," a near masterpiece, listen to "Watercolours in the Rain." The American company didn't want to release any Roxette music and then the band went to number one. It's different today, the labels are interested in the international sound, but usually it's country, region specific. Yet in this case these Scandinavian acts were doing the American sound, just as well as those born in the U.S.A. You could listen and not know they came from a foreign country. Rock dominated the world, and America was the heart and home of rock. Sure, there were great British acts, but they were influenced by American blues.
Now sometimes you play the old records and you wince. They're period pieces that make you cringe decades later. But I'm listening to "Stage Dolls" and I feel at home, this is the sound I cotton to, that no one makes anymore. Sure, there are rock bands. But melody is not a feature. It's like everybody listened to Metallica and jumped off from there. That music is not for everybody, just a sliver of the population, albeit lucrative. But once upon a time this rock sound was everywhere.
Stage Dolls were not a breakthrough. They were in many ways me-too. But it all comes down to the material, and that one song that closes the album is an absolute stunner."
"It was early in the mornin'
Back when I was five
Somebody's knockin' on our front door
One chilly winter's night
My father put his jeans on
And opened up the door
They were all dressed in uniforms
He was up against the wall"
Now in the Second World War Germany occupied Norway. But that was back in the forties, and this was the eighties, what exactly was the band singing about?
"My mother took us to the kitchen
My brother and me
She said 'Listen boys, your father's gone
There was someone he had to see'
And she cried her tears in silence
The sun began to rise
Oh, those moments I recall so well
Written down forever in my mind"
And it's nearly eleven last night, and I'm trying to put "Ammunition" in a pocket, in context. And I think they're singing about the U.S.S.R., Germany, Eastern Europe. This was before the wall fell.
"There was a black car on the pavement
Loud voices in the night
As they dragged him to the waiting car
He's puttin' up a fight
The streets were black and empty
Bedroom windows cold and damp
I held my arms 'round my brother
'Cause he didn't understand
The car moved from the driveway
And went into the night
Leaving two kids by the window
Holdin' each other tight"
You can see it, you can feel it. As generic as the rest of the lyrics I've quoted above are, "Ammunition" is different, it's personal, it's a mental movie. You can only sit in the dark and contemplate it, why were these rockers singing this song, why did they write it, there's got to be a story.
And then you play it again. And again. Because you don't want the mood to evaporate. You don't need to go to the show to shoot selfies, this is absolutely personal. The band is not playing to the back row, just you.
And then comes the chorus:
"Boy when you're all alone
Holdin' back when you wanna go
Take a stand 'cause it's not over now
Ooh, kid, keep your head up high
Dry your eyes and touch the sky
Take a stand 'cause it's not over now
Ammunition."
Now this is not a unique sentiment in rock and roll. Us versus them, stand up to the power. But the lyrics are not the dumb words of so many songs imploring listeners to do that. In this case, it goes to the core, the dad is gone, unjustly, how do you cope, how do you keep your optimism?
It's insanely difficult. This is the authoritarian system we're fearful of. Right doesn't matter, nor does innocence. You've got no power against the system. It's inherently unjust.
And the title of the song is only mentioned twice. Ammunition. That's what the offenders have given the oppressed. They've got this ammunition and they're holding on to employ it, to shoot it in the future, when those in control least expect it.
This ammunition is the essence of rock and roll, the other. Our bands didn't sell out to corporations, they existed in their own rarefied world, which we were drawn to, since the system didn't understand us. They were beholden to no one, not even us, which made their words have even more power. They were soothsayers. When we listened to their music we not only felt good, we felt like we were understood. Our music provided this, nothing else could, no movie, no book. There were these people, often without portfolio, who seemed to create this sound out of thin air, who knew exactly what we felt, who were inspiring us, giving us answers, they were irresistible.
Ammunition.
--
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
YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/4h6cracn
"Boy when you're all alone
Holdin' back when you wanna go
Take a stand 'cause it's not over now"
I was reading Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Shuffle," which is far superior to its sequel, "Crook Manifesto," when something made me think about Stage Dolls. Don't ask me why. That's how it works, when the day is deep, when you've got no obligations, that's when your mind drifts, when it becomes creative.
And I knew there was one amazing song on the album, not that I was sure of its name. I pulled up Spotify and decided to look for it. And that's when I found out Stage Dolls were still active. I'd forgotten they were Norwegian. As far as I knew there was only this one album, back in '88, on Chrysalis.
So I'm shifting through the options and I find the album I'm looking for. And I remember there was one really good rocker, but also an absolutely amazing moody cut, which one was which? And I'm staring at the track listing and I think the last song on the album is the moody killer, entitled "Ammunition," yet another memory has it earlier in the record. Am I going to have to listen to every cut on the album to find the one I desire to hear?
That was it, the last one, "Ammunition."
"It was early in the mornin'
Back when I was five
Somebody's knockin' on our front door
One chilly winter's night"
It felt so good, so right, it brought me right back to what once was.
You see CDs were once exotic, rare and expensive. And the goal was to work your way up in the business until you got on the mailing list, until you got CDs for free. And if you released a CD, you were above the fray. Most acts never got signed, if someone invested money in you your music was worth hearing. Well, if you were on Warner/Reprise, or Atlantic, and certainly Chrysalis. So I played every one.
Now I remember when Derek Shulman took over RoadRunner. He sent me a pile of CDs, and the one that resonated was Nickelback, I could hear it, this was long before "How You Remind Me," back before most people knew who Chad Kroeger was, never mind hated him and his band. There was no radio play, that was difficult to achieve, especially in the metropolis. Then there were CDs by acts I was familiar with, like Robin Trower. I immediately played his 1990 album "In the Line of Fire," it's really good, and unless you're a believer you've never heard it, I don't think radio ever played it.
Not that most of these CDs were worth playing more than once. But some were, and one was Stage Dolls.
Usually the first track is the best, and if it sucks it's hard to go much deeper into an album, but the opening cut of Stage Dolls' album was instantly memorable, it hooked me, it was called "Still in Love."
"New York City and I'm out with the boys
On 42nd Street makin' some noise
Another weekend and my baby's away
Temptation's drivin' me insane"
Funny that this Scandinavian band was singing about New York City.
But that's just the verse. There's a pre-chorus:
"Ain't makin' no promises I can't keep
'Cause I've got a lady back home
And she's waitin' there for me"
And a chorus:
"I'm in love, still in love
Oh-oh-oh
I'm in love, still in love
Oh-oh-oh"
Now if you were conscious in '88, if you were a devotee of rock, the sound will be so familiar, it's right in the pocket. This sound is expensive. You can't cut it at home. You need a big studio. But that was the paradigm back then. It's the sound of the guitar that closes you.
But was "Still in Love" the really good song I remembered along with "Ammunition"?
So I let the album play, into the second track, "Wings of Steel."
"Workin' in the city, it's a heartless city
Every day's the same
And I'm on the line from nine to five
Just playin' the game"
"Wings of Steel" is a bit quieter than "Still in Love," more meaningful, and the sound of the verse was great, but then I got to the accelerated chorus:
"I'll fly like an eagle wild
On wings of steel and thunder
I'll run with the wolves at night
I'll go where the action is
Ride fast on an endless highway
I'll fly like an eagle high"
And it sounded so good. Not like I'd just heard it yesterday, but like reconnecting with an old friend you went to camp with, someone you knew intimately, everything about them, but haven't spoken to in decades.
So that's three cuts that are ringing my bell, I decide to look at the complete track listing. And that's when I realize I know track 3, "Lorraine," by heart. And this seems so weird. This is just an album cut, not made to wow you, just for fans. And I know it as well as I know classics.
In truth this is a passé sound. As a matter of fact, it was squeezed off the airwaves by the Seattle sound, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit MTV in September 1991 and things were never the same. Kurt Cobain was authentic and credible in a way the hair bands never were, he didn't care what you thought, he wasn't pandering, he was just being himself.
And Stage Dolls had big hair. Not that they wrote a power ballad, at least not one I've heard, but they were definitely genre specific. But this kind of polished rock had a long run, from sometime in the seventies until the end of the eighties. And you might pooh-pooh it, call some of it yacht rock, but this was what dominated the airwaves back then, that resonated with the majority of the audience. We turned the records up loud on our multi-thousand dollar stereos. When our favorites played on the radio we moved our bodies, we banged our heads.
And today I hear so much that turns me right off.
But I'm listening to this Stage Dolls album and it's turning me right on.
Kinda like that Roxette album "Joyride," a near masterpiece, listen to "Watercolours in the Rain." The American company didn't want to release any Roxette music and then the band went to number one. It's different today, the labels are interested in the international sound, but usually it's country, region specific. Yet in this case these Scandinavian acts were doing the American sound, just as well as those born in the U.S.A. You could listen and not know they came from a foreign country. Rock dominated the world, and America was the heart and home of rock. Sure, there were great British acts, but they were influenced by American blues.
Now sometimes you play the old records and you wince. They're period pieces that make you cringe decades later. But I'm listening to "Stage Dolls" and I feel at home, this is the sound I cotton to, that no one makes anymore. Sure, there are rock bands. But melody is not a feature. It's like everybody listened to Metallica and jumped off from there. That music is not for everybody, just a sliver of the population, albeit lucrative. But once upon a time this rock sound was everywhere.
Stage Dolls were not a breakthrough. They were in many ways me-too. But it all comes down to the material, and that one song that closes the album is an absolute stunner."
"It was early in the mornin'
Back when I was five
Somebody's knockin' on our front door
One chilly winter's night
My father put his jeans on
And opened up the door
They were all dressed in uniforms
He was up against the wall"
Now in the Second World War Germany occupied Norway. But that was back in the forties, and this was the eighties, what exactly was the band singing about?
"My mother took us to the kitchen
My brother and me
She said 'Listen boys, your father's gone
There was someone he had to see'
And she cried her tears in silence
The sun began to rise
Oh, those moments I recall so well
Written down forever in my mind"
And it's nearly eleven last night, and I'm trying to put "Ammunition" in a pocket, in context. And I think they're singing about the U.S.S.R., Germany, Eastern Europe. This was before the wall fell.
"There was a black car on the pavement
Loud voices in the night
As they dragged him to the waiting car
He's puttin' up a fight
The streets were black and empty
Bedroom windows cold and damp
I held my arms 'round my brother
'Cause he didn't understand
The car moved from the driveway
And went into the night
Leaving two kids by the window
Holdin' each other tight"
You can see it, you can feel it. As generic as the rest of the lyrics I've quoted above are, "Ammunition" is different, it's personal, it's a mental movie. You can only sit in the dark and contemplate it, why were these rockers singing this song, why did they write it, there's got to be a story.
And then you play it again. And again. Because you don't want the mood to evaporate. You don't need to go to the show to shoot selfies, this is absolutely personal. The band is not playing to the back row, just you.
And then comes the chorus:
"Boy when you're all alone
Holdin' back when you wanna go
Take a stand 'cause it's not over now
Ooh, kid, keep your head up high
Dry your eyes and touch the sky
Take a stand 'cause it's not over now
Ammunition."
Now this is not a unique sentiment in rock and roll. Us versus them, stand up to the power. But the lyrics are not the dumb words of so many songs imploring listeners to do that. In this case, it goes to the core, the dad is gone, unjustly, how do you cope, how do you keep your optimism?
It's insanely difficult. This is the authoritarian system we're fearful of. Right doesn't matter, nor does innocence. You've got no power against the system. It's inherently unjust.
And the title of the song is only mentioned twice. Ammunition. That's what the offenders have given the oppressed. They've got this ammunition and they're holding on to employ it, to shoot it in the future, when those in control least expect it.
This ammunition is the essence of rock and roll, the other. Our bands didn't sell out to corporations, they existed in their own rarefied world, which we were drawn to, since the system didn't understand us. They were beholden to no one, not even us, which made their words have even more power. They were soothsayers. When we listened to their music we not only felt good, we felt like we were understood. Our music provided this, nothing else could, no movie, no book. There were these people, often without portfolio, who seemed to create this sound out of thin air, who knew exactly what we felt, who were inspiring us, giving us answers, they were irresistible.
Ammunition.
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John Scher-This Week's Podcast
The first half is about concert promotion. The second half is about the Grateful Dead. I guarantee you will hear things you've never heard before.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/john-scher-137104304/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-scher/id1316200737?i=1000639322188
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bRU1nvoTgykAMXsTU9Bir?si=ak054Q3DSiWgTP73iGHLCQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/1233a80b-a973-4035-acfd-c62757099382/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-john-scher
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/john-scher-137104304/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-scher/id1316200737?i=1000639322188
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bRU1nvoTgykAMXsTU9Bir?si=ak054Q3DSiWgTP73iGHLCQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/1233a80b-a973-4035-acfd-c62757099382/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-john-scher
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Tuesday 19 December 2023
Trump/Colorado
And why shouldn't the rule of law apply to everybody?
Yes, the courts are doing what the Democrats refuse to do, hold Trump accountable. Not that I expect the Supreme Court to take the side of Colorado, not after what happened back in 2000, when the election was handed to Bush.
Then again, Gore conceded. Isn't that the issue, that Trump never conceded, that he refused to accept the results of the election?
How does that work in regular life? Do you lose the World Series and say you won? Do you get fired from your job and say you still work there? Talk about topsy-turvy, just because someone says something that does not make it true. Then again, that's how much the MAGA people hate the liberals. But the liberals are told not to hate the MAGAs.
Yes, that was the first thing I just heard on the TV news. That this decision is going to embolden and empower Trump's base. Solidify it. Cause Biden to lose. Yes, we'd better be afraid of the MAGA people, we'd better not piss them off. Don't hold them accountable, because it's unfair. Best just to wait until the voters weigh in.
The voters?
At least in court we can see which justices decided which way. We can't debate stolen ballot boxes, stuffed ballot boxes, the justices vote one way or the other. And you can't have it both ways, you can't have a Supreme Court that gets rid of Roe and then say the justice system is tainted.
Bottom line, if we don't have belief in the justice system, that it is the last word, then the country is screwed. Then lawlessness truly reigns.
Everybody's got their own beliefs these days, irrelevant of facts. They don't want to hear facts, because they mess with their emotions, and emotions are everything in today's world. They trump education, they trump science, everything is up for grabs. But when everything is up for grabs we depend upon the legal system to divide the word of truth. And if the legal system fails...
Let's see, those on the left had to endure Mitch McConnell's refusal to allow a vote on Obama's Supreme Court pick. But we Democrats must accept it and believe in the system, but the rules don't apply to the right. How does that work?
I watched January 6th on television, and there are millions of people telling me, along with major news outlets, that I didn't see what I did. I thought the camera didn't lie? What kind of world can we have where there is no truth?
The truth is Mark Burnett made Trump President, and somehow he's escaped scrutiny. Burnett depicted a false impression of Trump on TV and since America loves celebrity and money, Trump became President.
Concomitantly, Hillary Clinton was so out of touch with the populace.
That's what I can't understand, how the Democrats refuse to play in the present, a world run online. All we hear from the Dems is to put down our smartphones, which is like telling a baby not to drink milk. Why not use the internet to your benefit? Why not rally the left. Tell them to hate the right. Because one thing is for sure, the right hates the left.
But when a Democrat is confronted with a bully they go to the principal, they complain, and they're laughed at. Everyone knows the only way to win, to neuter a bully, is to stand up to them. But we are told time and time again that if we stand up to Trump there will be negative consequences, he and his team will only get stronger.
And then there's Joe Biden... Talk about out of touch. He's too damn old. But the left calls that ageism. Almost no one wants him to run but they won't confront him. Now we've got a stacked court hearing the Colorado case because the previously lauded Ruth Bader Ginsburg turned out to be a narcissist who refused to take one for the team. Who was sick with cancer to boot. Talk about legacy, hers is toast.
I like a lot of what Biden has done, but if you can't make the case yourself why you should be president, you're not going to be. Come on, self-promotion is part of the gig. And if you're too lame not to do this it's time to get out of the way.
I mean America is holding on by a thread. I thought when they got rid of abortion there would be riots in the street. But instead it was those on the right who rioted over a falsehood, that the election was stolen.
But the Democrats tell us to just wait for the vote, that people are upset and will come out and... Don't you understand the flaw in logic here? This is internet 101. You want to remove the friction, eliminate the steps, otherwise people pass. I've got to register, I've got to leave my house, I've got to stand in line all the while believing my vote makes a difference. Well, not according to Trump and his minions.
So where does the buck stop? Don't talk to me about the election, one thing is for sure, if Trump loses he'll say he won, and then what. And if he wins... He's not going to make the mistakes of last time, once bitten, twice shy. It's over. This guy has a history of not being beholden to the legal system, but if he wins again he's suddenly going to?
Of course not.
So it's time for those on the left, the anti-Trumpers, to stand up. Not to watch MSNBC, not to be somnambulant. This is your fight, nobody else's. Each and every one of you. Don't let someone tell you that you need to respect the MAGA people, they're not respecting you. You can't reason with these people, you can only defeat them.
The wagons have circled. Trump has been caught red-handed, again and again. And what do our leaders and the media tell us? Back off. You don't want to piss the MAGA people off.
Well I'm pissed, isn't that enough?
The odds of the Supreme Court upholding the Colorado decision are miniscule. This is a court that has a history of deciding on a conclusion and then warping the law to fit it. Which means if you're thinking today's Colorado news is a great victory, all I can tell you is it's just a beginning.
This is the time for a full court press. This is a time to stop telling the people that they're wrong about the economy. Life is hard in these United States, own it. And people are angry. And too many on the left disrespect those with little income. Perception is everything. And perception is Biden is too old and times are hard. Good luck trying to convince people otherwise.
But there's also a perception that Trump is a crook. He can complain all he wants that the system is stacked against him, that they're out to get him, but isn't that what every criminal has to say? This decision today is another brick in the wall. And it's your responsibility to build it.
We need the justice system to hold Trump accountable, even more than the ballot box. This guy believes he's above the law, like too many rich people. We've got to show him otherwise. We've got to put it all on the line, because everything is up for grabs.
Stop being afraid. Start taking a side. Those on the right have no problem doing this. Jason Aldean speaks his "truth," but too many left-leaning musicians stay quiet, for fear someone won't like them. Boo-hoo, is this the world we now live in, is this the result of everybody gets a trophy? Why are we so scared of offending people? And it's the left that has this problem, I don't hear the right calling for trigger warnings.
It's your responsibility to make a difference, this is the story and the fight of your life. The MAGAns are the minority, are we going to let them win? The game is stacked against us, with the Electoral College, with two Senators per state. Which means we've got to fight even harder. But we always pass responsibility on to someone else. We're too busy living our lives like the Israelis, while HAMAS was a ticking time bomb that finally exploded.
Today the Colorado court did the right thing. Showing there is some justice in this world. And Trump's offenses are so egregious that it will be hard for courts down the line not to hold him accountable. We must beat this drum loudly, counteract the MAGA right. We must say that the buck stops with the law, unlike those on the right.
But we've still got to fight.
The future is unpredictable. The past might be prologue, but it is not definitive. Don't tell me about 2022. The past repeats itself, but always with a twist. Today's decision was an unexpected twist. There will be more. Be prepared, be very prepared. The right wants authoritarianism, they want the trains to run on time, they want answers, not questions. They want solutions. They don't want to be told to wait. We have to show them our way is better. And we're doing a piss-poor job of it.
But at least the legal system is helping.
Endorse it, otherwise those on the right are going to try to disqualify it.
Today gives us hope. And hope is everything. We need hope on the left. Let's take this flicker of a flame and turn it into a conflagration. Trump is nothing without his team. Too bad we've got a lame leader on our side. But still, the team can organize, get it together, tell our story, say we're right and we believe in the system.
Because once the system is up for grabs...
It's almost over.
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Yes, the courts are doing what the Democrats refuse to do, hold Trump accountable. Not that I expect the Supreme Court to take the side of Colorado, not after what happened back in 2000, when the election was handed to Bush.
Then again, Gore conceded. Isn't that the issue, that Trump never conceded, that he refused to accept the results of the election?
How does that work in regular life? Do you lose the World Series and say you won? Do you get fired from your job and say you still work there? Talk about topsy-turvy, just because someone says something that does not make it true. Then again, that's how much the MAGA people hate the liberals. But the liberals are told not to hate the MAGAs.
Yes, that was the first thing I just heard on the TV news. That this decision is going to embolden and empower Trump's base. Solidify it. Cause Biden to lose. Yes, we'd better be afraid of the MAGA people, we'd better not piss them off. Don't hold them accountable, because it's unfair. Best just to wait until the voters weigh in.
The voters?
At least in court we can see which justices decided which way. We can't debate stolen ballot boxes, stuffed ballot boxes, the justices vote one way or the other. And you can't have it both ways, you can't have a Supreme Court that gets rid of Roe and then say the justice system is tainted.
Bottom line, if we don't have belief in the justice system, that it is the last word, then the country is screwed. Then lawlessness truly reigns.
Everybody's got their own beliefs these days, irrelevant of facts. They don't want to hear facts, because they mess with their emotions, and emotions are everything in today's world. They trump education, they trump science, everything is up for grabs. But when everything is up for grabs we depend upon the legal system to divide the word of truth. And if the legal system fails...
Let's see, those on the left had to endure Mitch McConnell's refusal to allow a vote on Obama's Supreme Court pick. But we Democrats must accept it and believe in the system, but the rules don't apply to the right. How does that work?
I watched January 6th on television, and there are millions of people telling me, along with major news outlets, that I didn't see what I did. I thought the camera didn't lie? What kind of world can we have where there is no truth?
The truth is Mark Burnett made Trump President, and somehow he's escaped scrutiny. Burnett depicted a false impression of Trump on TV and since America loves celebrity and money, Trump became President.
Concomitantly, Hillary Clinton was so out of touch with the populace.
That's what I can't understand, how the Democrats refuse to play in the present, a world run online. All we hear from the Dems is to put down our smartphones, which is like telling a baby not to drink milk. Why not use the internet to your benefit? Why not rally the left. Tell them to hate the right. Because one thing is for sure, the right hates the left.
But when a Democrat is confronted with a bully they go to the principal, they complain, and they're laughed at. Everyone knows the only way to win, to neuter a bully, is to stand up to them. But we are told time and time again that if we stand up to Trump there will be negative consequences, he and his team will only get stronger.
And then there's Joe Biden... Talk about out of touch. He's too damn old. But the left calls that ageism. Almost no one wants him to run but they won't confront him. Now we've got a stacked court hearing the Colorado case because the previously lauded Ruth Bader Ginsburg turned out to be a narcissist who refused to take one for the team. Who was sick with cancer to boot. Talk about legacy, hers is toast.
I like a lot of what Biden has done, but if you can't make the case yourself why you should be president, you're not going to be. Come on, self-promotion is part of the gig. And if you're too lame not to do this it's time to get out of the way.
I mean America is holding on by a thread. I thought when they got rid of abortion there would be riots in the street. But instead it was those on the right who rioted over a falsehood, that the election was stolen.
But the Democrats tell us to just wait for the vote, that people are upset and will come out and... Don't you understand the flaw in logic here? This is internet 101. You want to remove the friction, eliminate the steps, otherwise people pass. I've got to register, I've got to leave my house, I've got to stand in line all the while believing my vote makes a difference. Well, not according to Trump and his minions.
So where does the buck stop? Don't talk to me about the election, one thing is for sure, if Trump loses he'll say he won, and then what. And if he wins... He's not going to make the mistakes of last time, once bitten, twice shy. It's over. This guy has a history of not being beholden to the legal system, but if he wins again he's suddenly going to?
Of course not.
So it's time for those on the left, the anti-Trumpers, to stand up. Not to watch MSNBC, not to be somnambulant. This is your fight, nobody else's. Each and every one of you. Don't let someone tell you that you need to respect the MAGA people, they're not respecting you. You can't reason with these people, you can only defeat them.
The wagons have circled. Trump has been caught red-handed, again and again. And what do our leaders and the media tell us? Back off. You don't want to piss the MAGA people off.
Well I'm pissed, isn't that enough?
The odds of the Supreme Court upholding the Colorado decision are miniscule. This is a court that has a history of deciding on a conclusion and then warping the law to fit it. Which means if you're thinking today's Colorado news is a great victory, all I can tell you is it's just a beginning.
This is the time for a full court press. This is a time to stop telling the people that they're wrong about the economy. Life is hard in these United States, own it. And people are angry. And too many on the left disrespect those with little income. Perception is everything. And perception is Biden is too old and times are hard. Good luck trying to convince people otherwise.
But there's also a perception that Trump is a crook. He can complain all he wants that the system is stacked against him, that they're out to get him, but isn't that what every criminal has to say? This decision today is another brick in the wall. And it's your responsibility to build it.
We need the justice system to hold Trump accountable, even more than the ballot box. This guy believes he's above the law, like too many rich people. We've got to show him otherwise. We've got to put it all on the line, because everything is up for grabs.
Stop being afraid. Start taking a side. Those on the right have no problem doing this. Jason Aldean speaks his "truth," but too many left-leaning musicians stay quiet, for fear someone won't like them. Boo-hoo, is this the world we now live in, is this the result of everybody gets a trophy? Why are we so scared of offending people? And it's the left that has this problem, I don't hear the right calling for trigger warnings.
It's your responsibility to make a difference, this is the story and the fight of your life. The MAGAns are the minority, are we going to let them win? The game is stacked against us, with the Electoral College, with two Senators per state. Which means we've got to fight even harder. But we always pass responsibility on to someone else. We're too busy living our lives like the Israelis, while HAMAS was a ticking time bomb that finally exploded.
Today the Colorado court did the right thing. Showing there is some justice in this world. And Trump's offenses are so egregious that it will be hard for courts down the line not to hold him accountable. We must beat this drum loudly, counteract the MAGA right. We must say that the buck stops with the law, unlike those on the right.
But we've still got to fight.
The future is unpredictable. The past might be prologue, but it is not definitive. Don't tell me about 2022. The past repeats itself, but always with a twist. Today's decision was an unexpected twist. There will be more. Be prepared, be very prepared. The right wants authoritarianism, they want the trains to run on time, they want answers, not questions. They want solutions. They don't want to be told to wait. We have to show them our way is better. And we're doing a piss-poor job of it.
But at least the legal system is helping.
Endorse it, otherwise those on the right are going to try to disqualify it.
Today gives us hope. And hope is everything. We need hope on the left. Let's take this flicker of a flame and turn it into a conflagration. Trump is nothing without his team. Too bad we've got a lame leader on our side. But still, the team can organize, get it together, tell our story, say we're right and we believe in the system.
Because once the system is up for grabs...
It's almost over.
--
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The Game
PUBLICITY
There must be a story, that first and foremost intrigues the writer who believes it will intrigue the reader, otherwise the effort is worthless. Many publicity people will take your money and they'll send out mailings to people like me who will instantly delete them. If all you want is a listing that your music is coming out, or that you're going on tour, a press release might be sufficient to achieve that, but not anything more. Publicity is a game. You're selling and the writer/outlet is buying. Think of how hard it is to get someone to buy anything these days. Then think about how hard it will be to get someone overloaded with input to buy what you're selling. The story must benefit them, and you only secondarily.
Having said all this, today most publicity is wasted. It reaches nobody, or those who do not care. Better to have targeted publicity, that reaches the core audience. Better to be narrow than broad. Specific rather than general. Only boomers and a few Gen-X'ers are reached by print advertising and broadcast/cable television. You reach everybody else via the internet. Facebook, YouTube, X, TikTok, Snapchat... Your story must be intriguing, if it is the audience will spread the word.
THE MUSIC
Is an advertisement for the act. Period. Unless you're a rapper or a popster who will end up in the Spotify Top 50. If you're complaining you're not making money on your recorded music you're missing the point. The key is to make it available so if someone is interested they can hear it with a click. And then a mysterious, unpredictable process happens, or not. Either the listener loves it so much that they tell other people about it or they do not. And if the listener likes it, they want more of it, and then will come to a show, buy merch. Think of ones and twos, not millions. An avid fan is worth more than a hundred, if not a thousand, passive ones. I wish we could be more targeted here, know exactly what will move the needle, but we rarely do. Only a few tracks are obvious hits. As for the rest, it's unpredictable, history is littered with album tracks that became hits, and promoted tracks that did not. The key is to be in the marketplace, working, otherwise you don't have a chance to catch fire. Fans want more music, more of you. Forget reaching those in the metaphorical last row, who are not passionate, concentrate all your efforts on the hard core.
As for the music itself... If you're truly an artist, do whatever you want, follow your muse. But few people have this vision and talent. So the rest must study the market and see what is working and try to riff on that.
Also, if you catch fire, if you have a fan base, then you can expand. Don't worry about being locked into expectations, burdened by history. Those days are through. Today there's so much in the marketplace that if you miss, no one remembers. Keep stepping up to bat.
HONESTY/CREDIBILITY
This is what propelled Noah Kahan to stadiums. The more personal you are, the more you reveal your warts and problems, the greater the chance you have of hooking people. People are dying for connection, it is your goal to provide it. Sure, people like cartoons, raw entertainment too, but that usually does not bond a listener to you. A listener wants to believe that they know you and that you are speaking only to them, that if they meet you you'll understand them and their life will be complete. Of course this is fantasy, but it's this fantasy that creates hard core fans. You are an antidote to the rest of the world which is difficult and does not understand them.
Beware of messing up your image. Today everybody knows everything, or can find it out with a click. If you play a private for a dictator, if you party on the boat of an oligarch, people are going to know. And if your image is based on honesty, it's going to take a hit. The TMZ acts playing the game the majors understand can get away with this, they're essentially cartoons, however the market share of this music is declining. Literally. Will a new sound come along to replace it or will there just be a zillion niches...we don't know.
PLAY LIVE
Period. That's where the bond is solidified, at the show. Today there are two worlds, recordings and live performances, and the power has switched to the latter. If you want longevity in the music business then you must be able to play live. Making a hit record in your bedroom is nice, albeit difficult, but that does not mean anybody wants to pay to see you. And the most money is at the gig. So if you're starting out, start playing out. Whether it be with guitars or synthesizers, you must have a show. Something that rivets those who are interested. This is not easy...to get anybody to pay attention to anybody playing music. And the show does not have to be perfect, but it must connect with the audience. The show must breathe, a click track usually works against you. Live is where you evidence your humanity.
Y0UR PERSONALITY/IDENTITY
It's in your music, but that is no longer enough. You must have a presence online, a genuine presence, not one created by a team. Where people can look into your life, into your brain, and get to know you. Don't worry about making a mistake, pissing people off, it goes with the territory. The more edges you have, the greater the chance people will be hooked.
And never ever be defensive online, never get into a flame/X/Twitter war unless someone high above you is punching down. And it's best to fight back with humor.
DUES
You never stop paying them. You're always practicing, always working, always building a platform to take you to the next level. It's frustrating because you want the fame of yore, when MTV made you a worldwide star overnight, but those days are through, no use lamenting their passage. You must play by the new rules. And you must be not only digitally native, but digitally proficient. Most youngsters are, most oldsters are not. You must know how your smartphone and computer work, you must follow online trends in platforms and fads. Only by being aware of the marketplace can you win in the marketplace.
DON'T BE AFRAID
You're going to piss people off. But the dirty little secret is not everyone is going to love you, and while you might be angering one slice of the population, another might be thrilled and cheer you on. Take a stand. And if you have any traction, that frequently becomes a story that spreads unto itself. Having said that, if you have no traction don't send out e-mail saying you wrote a protest song or have a take on the issue du jour...who cares, it makes you look like a joke.
THE WILDERNESS
That's where we are now. Anybody who tells you they've got it nailed is wrong. And those invested in the past are those who are losing out most in the future. You've got to be nimble. There is no formula. It's all cottage industry. And remember, no one needs you or your music, absolutely no one. They need food and water and shelter, but not your music. Be thrilled if you have any traction at all. And if you don't...you can keep on keepin' on, that's your choice, or maybe the universe is telling you to do something different.
There must be a story, that first and foremost intrigues the writer who believes it will intrigue the reader, otherwise the effort is worthless. Many publicity people will take your money and they'll send out mailings to people like me who will instantly delete them. If all you want is a listing that your music is coming out, or that you're going on tour, a press release might be sufficient to achieve that, but not anything more. Publicity is a game. You're selling and the writer/outlet is buying. Think of how hard it is to get someone to buy anything these days. Then think about how hard it will be to get someone overloaded with input to buy what you're selling. The story must benefit them, and you only secondarily.
Having said all this, today most publicity is wasted. It reaches nobody, or those who do not care. Better to have targeted publicity, that reaches the core audience. Better to be narrow than broad. Specific rather than general. Only boomers and a few Gen-X'ers are reached by print advertising and broadcast/cable television. You reach everybody else via the internet. Facebook, YouTube, X, TikTok, Snapchat... Your story must be intriguing, if it is the audience will spread the word.
THE MUSIC
Is an advertisement for the act. Period. Unless you're a rapper or a popster who will end up in the Spotify Top 50. If you're complaining you're not making money on your recorded music you're missing the point. The key is to make it available so if someone is interested they can hear it with a click. And then a mysterious, unpredictable process happens, or not. Either the listener loves it so much that they tell other people about it or they do not. And if the listener likes it, they want more of it, and then will come to a show, buy merch. Think of ones and twos, not millions. An avid fan is worth more than a hundred, if not a thousand, passive ones. I wish we could be more targeted here, know exactly what will move the needle, but we rarely do. Only a few tracks are obvious hits. As for the rest, it's unpredictable, history is littered with album tracks that became hits, and promoted tracks that did not. The key is to be in the marketplace, working, otherwise you don't have a chance to catch fire. Fans want more music, more of you. Forget reaching those in the metaphorical last row, who are not passionate, concentrate all your efforts on the hard core.
As for the music itself... If you're truly an artist, do whatever you want, follow your muse. But few people have this vision and talent. So the rest must study the market and see what is working and try to riff on that.
Also, if you catch fire, if you have a fan base, then you can expand. Don't worry about being locked into expectations, burdened by history. Those days are through. Today there's so much in the marketplace that if you miss, no one remembers. Keep stepping up to bat.
HONESTY/CREDIBILITY
This is what propelled Noah Kahan to stadiums. The more personal you are, the more you reveal your warts and problems, the greater the chance you have of hooking people. People are dying for connection, it is your goal to provide it. Sure, people like cartoons, raw entertainment too, but that usually does not bond a listener to you. A listener wants to believe that they know you and that you are speaking only to them, that if they meet you you'll understand them and their life will be complete. Of course this is fantasy, but it's this fantasy that creates hard core fans. You are an antidote to the rest of the world which is difficult and does not understand them.
Beware of messing up your image. Today everybody knows everything, or can find it out with a click. If you play a private for a dictator, if you party on the boat of an oligarch, people are going to know. And if your image is based on honesty, it's going to take a hit. The TMZ acts playing the game the majors understand can get away with this, they're essentially cartoons, however the market share of this music is declining. Literally. Will a new sound come along to replace it or will there just be a zillion niches...we don't know.
PLAY LIVE
Period. That's where the bond is solidified, at the show. Today there are two worlds, recordings and live performances, and the power has switched to the latter. If you want longevity in the music business then you must be able to play live. Making a hit record in your bedroom is nice, albeit difficult, but that does not mean anybody wants to pay to see you. And the most money is at the gig. So if you're starting out, start playing out. Whether it be with guitars or synthesizers, you must have a show. Something that rivets those who are interested. This is not easy...to get anybody to pay attention to anybody playing music. And the show does not have to be perfect, but it must connect with the audience. The show must breathe, a click track usually works against you. Live is where you evidence your humanity.
Y0UR PERSONALITY/IDENTITY
It's in your music, but that is no longer enough. You must have a presence online, a genuine presence, not one created by a team. Where people can look into your life, into your brain, and get to know you. Don't worry about making a mistake, pissing people off, it goes with the territory. The more edges you have, the greater the chance people will be hooked.
And never ever be defensive online, never get into a flame/X/Twitter war unless someone high above you is punching down. And it's best to fight back with humor.
DUES
You never stop paying them. You're always practicing, always working, always building a platform to take you to the next level. It's frustrating because you want the fame of yore, when MTV made you a worldwide star overnight, but those days are through, no use lamenting their passage. You must play by the new rules. And you must be not only digitally native, but digitally proficient. Most youngsters are, most oldsters are not. You must know how your smartphone and computer work, you must follow online trends in platforms and fads. Only by being aware of the marketplace can you win in the marketplace.
DON'T BE AFRAID
You're going to piss people off. But the dirty little secret is not everyone is going to love you, and while you might be angering one slice of the population, another might be thrilled and cheer you on. Take a stand. And if you have any traction, that frequently becomes a story that spreads unto itself. Having said that, if you have no traction don't send out e-mail saying you wrote a protest song or have a take on the issue du jour...who cares, it makes you look like a joke.
THE WILDERNESS
That's where we are now. Anybody who tells you they've got it nailed is wrong. And those invested in the past are those who are losing out most in the future. You've got to be nimble. There is no formula. It's all cottage industry. And remember, no one needs you or your music, absolutely no one. They need food and water and shelter, but not your music. Be thrilled if you have any traction at all. And if you don't...you can keep on keepin' on, that's your choice, or maybe the universe is telling you to do something different.
--
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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Monday 18 December 2023
Re-The OA
THE OA is one of the best TV series of modern times. Netflix made me hate Netflix when it oddly cancelled it. Ignorant. One of the worst choices ever. Imagine if NBC canceled Cheers or Seinfeld, as they wanted to, due to numbers. I also can't believe that NO ONE picked it up!? NO ONE!? There are dozens of outlets. This show was epic. And since then, 7 years ago, no one has topped it. Not in intellect or concept. No one. Brit Marling is Spielberg level genius. Stephen King. Jordan Peele. Marling. And while "Murder" is slower in its pace, she deserves the power and money and staff behind her that someone like Ryan Murphy has.
Jerry J. Sharell
________________________________
The OA was such an inventive and phenomenal show and I was so disappointed when the story did not continue for a third season. I watched the show multiple times hoping it would get picked back up. In a time when so many are focused on female empowerment in Hollywood, it's appalling that everyone doesn't know how much of a creative genius Brit Marling is.
The closest album to something like The OA is probably by The Mars Volta or Shabazz Palaces. Sadly (perhaps) neither the show nor those musicians got mainstream attention.
Joah Spearman
________________________________
Brit Marling's work has consistently blown me away over the years. I always know I'm in for something thought-provoking and mind-bending when her name's attached to a project. I became an instant fan after seeing Another Earth back in 2011, which she co-wrote and starred in. I was truly mesmerized by The OA when it came out. Like you, I thought the first season was superior, though I was still royally pissed that Netflix decided to cancel it once the second season failed to be digested by billions of people in a single weekend. Or because of whatever shortsighted criteria it is that they adhere to.
Anyway, next step, check out some of the movies Brit's done with Zal as well as with Mike Cahill, like the aforementioned Another Earth, as well as Sound Of My Voice and I Origins. They're also fantastic.
J.G.
________________________________
The OA. I watched it when it first came out… yes, unique, disturbing, and the second season was not as good as the first. I would tell everyone about it, but no-one seemed to get what I got out of it. Kind of like my suburban, teenaged self trying to tell my friends why they should try listening to early XTC, Bowie, Elvis Costello, and the list goes on. Ah, the blank faces that now have been replaced with knowing smirks. So it goes!
Ralph Covert
________________________________
I've been telling everyone about the oa from the start. Totally mesmerizing! So upset that it was cancelled. I'm loving murder at the end of the world as well because it sucks you in and gets more interesting along the way. Go Brit!
Nathan Benditzson
________________________________
Bob, I was excited you included my missive about THE OA regarding your initial note on "A Murder At The End Of The World", and I'm thrilled you took the time to dig into the show now (not presuming it was my suggested behest of course haha). It's cool after years of trying to tell anyone who would listen how good this show is that it finally seems to be finding a bigger audience. Good things indeed take time. I agree, season 1 was brilliant but I did feel season 2 opened up whole new layers of the onion that I didn't see coming.The cliffhanger ending is so frustratingly perfect because it allows us to imagine that anything Brit and Zal do next could "in theory" be a continuation of THE OA. At least I like to think of it like that. Hopefully your cosign will bring this show to even more light. I recco it to fans of LOST and the equally awesome Netflix phenom "DARK" (which may have the best series ending in TV history...better than Sopranos or Breaking Bad).
Best,
- Wordburglar
________________________________
I couldn't agree with you more about The OA. I watched it when it came out as it was recommended to me by someone whose taste I respect immensely.
I still think it's one of the most creative and innovative shows over the last 7 years.
Like you said, we were not expecting it
So glad that you saw it and loved it.
Ritch Esra
________________________________
Another Earth is when I first noticed her. She was great in that one.
Hal Kempson
________________________________
Three words…Sharon van Etten!
Glad you got hipped to The OA.
dick huey
________________________________
Another Earth
Film co-written and starring Brit Marling. I remember being moved by it.
Cliff Burnstein
________________________________
Despite agreeing with you about the general superiority of today's series over today's films, the latter still offer some worthy nuggets. I strongly suggest checking out some of Brit & Zal's pre-OA films. I recommend starting with "Another Earth." But they're all mind blowing and very well conceived, written, acted, and directed.
Tom Carter
________________________________
Check out Brit Marling in "The Sound of My Voice". Similar thematically to the OA, but a feature-length film. Same director involved… Zat Batamangali. "Another Earth" is another one worth checking out.
Stephen Gordon
________________________________
You should see Britt Marling's pre-"The OA" movies, too... They're all brilliantly original.
Mark B. Spiegel
________________________________
I hope you've watched her commencement speech and her other movies
All imperfect little gems.
Thanks for challenging your fans to take a look.
Rick Osswald
________________________________
LOVED OA. What a trip. A really good one!!
Wish they got to finish the series as planned, that cliffhanger ending was too abrupt.
Joe Weinstein
________________________________
The OA was brilliant. Singer Sharon Van Etten and all of the captives held by "Hap" (Jason Isaacs- playing Carey Grant "Archie" soon on the Brit Box) were quietly complex. Homer and the OA's connection was the most intoxicating. But the friendships OA forged in her hometown was a "Breakfast Club" of disparate high schoolers and an adult. Those relationships were wonderful. The character development on Steve was especially well done. You hated him then start to understand and eventually like him. You become invested in all of their lives. Because the time is taken for the audience to get to know each of them. I encourage everyone to watch the OA. But skip seaon 2. It jumped the shark. Sometimes it's best leaving wanting more. Brit Marling- please sell wolf hoodies;)
Kathryn Russ
________________________________
I'm so glad you enjoyed that show and wrote about it. I only recently saw it too and this is the kind of art to talk about.
Gregg DeMammos
________________________________
Bob - we discussed The OA in Aspen - and I loved it too.
But I forgot to mention another show that I just loved - Dark. Did you and Felice catch it? I binged it during the first few months of the pandemic, so maybe the eeriness of the world bled into my evenings with Dark, but it is absolutely mesmerizing. The final episode broke my heart and will stay with me forever.
If you guys didn't catch it - do it.
Nichol Carlson
________________________________
I'm so glad you took the time to watch and explore "The O.A.," which for me is one of the most wondrous, daring and human series ever created. I had long been a fan of Brit and Zal -- I interviewed them three times for their previous works: "Sound of My Voice" and "The East," and also "Another Earth," in which Brit starred for director Mike Cahill, whom Brit and Zal went to college with. I adored their humanism, but to your point, I always felt their ideas were too big for a two-hour film. Then came "The O.A." An expansive canvas for their wild ideas -- about community, and storytelling, and alternate worlds, and primal movement -- to stretch across. I've never been so heartbroken about the cancellation of a series, and yet, I reckoned with it by deciding we might just not have been worthy of it. I wrote about my feelings in an extensive piece in "The Observer," and I wrote it when I was inspired to -- it wouldn't have been good otherwise. I was ecstatic when co-star Jason Isaacs tweeted about it. (Yes, they were still tweets then.) The thought that my voice was heard by an artist who willingly took part in this gonzo masterstroke of bravery, and who gave life to Brit and Zal's words, was enormous. It pains me that I don't much care for "A Murder at the End of the World" (it's just far too obvious and underwritten for minds like Brit's and Zal's), but for me, "The O.A." is enough to cement them as two of the greatest storytellers of our time -- which they, of course, were not setting out to be.
Kurt Osenlund
PS: I also highly recommend Brit's convocation speech at the 2013 senior graduation at Georgetwon, her alma mater. It tells you all you need to know and more about the human, tribal nature behind her work with Zal: https://youtu.be/K5izKTfctX4?si=IT73FaP0cqpE9jSl
________________________________
Wow- you are really late on this, but also correct. This was unique entertainment.
Steven Berson
________________________________
The OA is an amazing show, and nothing was more disappointing than finishing season 2 and learning it had been canceled. Maybe you can use your powers to start a campaign for season 3?
https://screenrant.com/the-oa-season-3-chances-netflix-cancellation-cocreator-comments/
Pete Smollin
________________________________
Brit Marling is not a star, but she is an artist.
Jeff Weicher
Jerry J. Sharell
________________________________
The OA was such an inventive and phenomenal show and I was so disappointed when the story did not continue for a third season. I watched the show multiple times hoping it would get picked back up. In a time when so many are focused on female empowerment in Hollywood, it's appalling that everyone doesn't know how much of a creative genius Brit Marling is.
The closest album to something like The OA is probably by The Mars Volta or Shabazz Palaces. Sadly (perhaps) neither the show nor those musicians got mainstream attention.
Joah Spearman
________________________________
Brit Marling's work has consistently blown me away over the years. I always know I'm in for something thought-provoking and mind-bending when her name's attached to a project. I became an instant fan after seeing Another Earth back in 2011, which she co-wrote and starred in. I was truly mesmerized by The OA when it came out. Like you, I thought the first season was superior, though I was still royally pissed that Netflix decided to cancel it once the second season failed to be digested by billions of people in a single weekend. Or because of whatever shortsighted criteria it is that they adhere to.
Anyway, next step, check out some of the movies Brit's done with Zal as well as with Mike Cahill, like the aforementioned Another Earth, as well as Sound Of My Voice and I Origins. They're also fantastic.
J.G.
________________________________
The OA. I watched it when it first came out… yes, unique, disturbing, and the second season was not as good as the first. I would tell everyone about it, but no-one seemed to get what I got out of it. Kind of like my suburban, teenaged self trying to tell my friends why they should try listening to early XTC, Bowie, Elvis Costello, and the list goes on. Ah, the blank faces that now have been replaced with knowing smirks. So it goes!
Ralph Covert
________________________________
I've been telling everyone about the oa from the start. Totally mesmerizing! So upset that it was cancelled. I'm loving murder at the end of the world as well because it sucks you in and gets more interesting along the way. Go Brit!
Nathan Benditzson
________________________________
Bob, I was excited you included my missive about THE OA regarding your initial note on "A Murder At The End Of The World", and I'm thrilled you took the time to dig into the show now (not presuming it was my suggested behest of course haha). It's cool after years of trying to tell anyone who would listen how good this show is that it finally seems to be finding a bigger audience. Good things indeed take time. I agree, season 1 was brilliant but I did feel season 2 opened up whole new layers of the onion that I didn't see coming.The cliffhanger ending is so frustratingly perfect because it allows us to imagine that anything Brit and Zal do next could "in theory" be a continuation of THE OA. At least I like to think of it like that. Hopefully your cosign will bring this show to even more light. I recco it to fans of LOST and the equally awesome Netflix phenom "DARK" (which may have the best series ending in TV history...better than Sopranos or Breaking Bad).
Best,
- Wordburglar
________________________________
I couldn't agree with you more about The OA. I watched it when it came out as it was recommended to me by someone whose taste I respect immensely.
I still think it's one of the most creative and innovative shows over the last 7 years.
Like you said, we were not expecting it
So glad that you saw it and loved it.
Ritch Esra
________________________________
Another Earth is when I first noticed her. She was great in that one.
Hal Kempson
________________________________
Three words…Sharon van Etten!
Glad you got hipped to The OA.
dick huey
________________________________
Another Earth
Film co-written and starring Brit Marling. I remember being moved by it.
Cliff Burnstein
________________________________
Despite agreeing with you about the general superiority of today's series over today's films, the latter still offer some worthy nuggets. I strongly suggest checking out some of Brit & Zal's pre-OA films. I recommend starting with "Another Earth." But they're all mind blowing and very well conceived, written, acted, and directed.
Tom Carter
________________________________
Check out Brit Marling in "The Sound of My Voice". Similar thematically to the OA, but a feature-length film. Same director involved… Zat Batamangali. "Another Earth" is another one worth checking out.
Stephen Gordon
________________________________
You should see Britt Marling's pre-"The OA" movies, too... They're all brilliantly original.
Mark B. Spiegel
________________________________
I hope you've watched her commencement speech and her other movies
All imperfect little gems.
Thanks for challenging your fans to take a look.
Rick Osswald
________________________________
LOVED OA. What a trip. A really good one!!
Wish they got to finish the series as planned, that cliffhanger ending was too abrupt.
Joe Weinstein
________________________________
The OA was brilliant. Singer Sharon Van Etten and all of the captives held by "Hap" (Jason Isaacs- playing Carey Grant "Archie" soon on the Brit Box) were quietly complex. Homer and the OA's connection was the most intoxicating. But the friendships OA forged in her hometown was a "Breakfast Club" of disparate high schoolers and an adult. Those relationships were wonderful. The character development on Steve was especially well done. You hated him then start to understand and eventually like him. You become invested in all of their lives. Because the time is taken for the audience to get to know each of them. I encourage everyone to watch the OA. But skip seaon 2. It jumped the shark. Sometimes it's best leaving wanting more. Brit Marling- please sell wolf hoodies;)
Kathryn Russ
________________________________
I'm so glad you enjoyed that show and wrote about it. I only recently saw it too and this is the kind of art to talk about.
Gregg DeMammos
________________________________
Bob - we discussed The OA in Aspen - and I loved it too.
But I forgot to mention another show that I just loved - Dark. Did you and Felice catch it? I binged it during the first few months of the pandemic, so maybe the eeriness of the world bled into my evenings with Dark, but it is absolutely mesmerizing. The final episode broke my heart and will stay with me forever.
If you guys didn't catch it - do it.
Nichol Carlson
________________________________
I'm so glad you took the time to watch and explore "The O.A.," which for me is one of the most wondrous, daring and human series ever created. I had long been a fan of Brit and Zal -- I interviewed them three times for their previous works: "Sound of My Voice" and "The East," and also "Another Earth," in which Brit starred for director Mike Cahill, whom Brit and Zal went to college with. I adored their humanism, but to your point, I always felt their ideas were too big for a two-hour film. Then came "The O.A." An expansive canvas for their wild ideas -- about community, and storytelling, and alternate worlds, and primal movement -- to stretch across. I've never been so heartbroken about the cancellation of a series, and yet, I reckoned with it by deciding we might just not have been worthy of it. I wrote about my feelings in an extensive piece in "The Observer," and I wrote it when I was inspired to -- it wouldn't have been good otherwise. I was ecstatic when co-star Jason Isaacs tweeted about it. (Yes, they were still tweets then.) The thought that my voice was heard by an artist who willingly took part in this gonzo masterstroke of bravery, and who gave life to Brit and Zal's words, was enormous. It pains me that I don't much care for "A Murder at the End of the World" (it's just far too obvious and underwritten for minds like Brit's and Zal's), but for me, "The O.A." is enough to cement them as two of the greatest storytellers of our time -- which they, of course, were not setting out to be.
Kurt Osenlund
PS: I also highly recommend Brit's convocation speech at the 2013 senior graduation at Georgetwon, her alma mater. It tells you all you need to know and more about the human, tribal nature behind her work with Zal: https://youtu.be/K5izKTfctX4?si=IT73FaP0cqpE9jSl
________________________________
Wow- you are really late on this, but also correct. This was unique entertainment.
Steven Berson
________________________________
The OA is an amazing show, and nothing was more disappointing than finishing season 2 and learning it had been canceled. Maybe you can use your powers to start a campaign for season 3?
https://screenrant.com/the-oa-season-3-chances-netflix-cancellation-cocreator-comments/
Pete Smollin
________________________________
Brit Marling is not a star, but she is an artist.
Jeff Weicher
--
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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Re-Hearts In Her Eyes
Thanks Bob, for remembering The Records and some of our songs (second time around if I cast my mind back to 2006). Since then, the group's bassist Phil Brown and co-writer and singer John Wicks have sadly died. I am occasionally in touch with Jude Cole who appeared on 'Crashes' and toured with us in 1980. Jude covered our song Starry Eyes on his 'Coup De Main' collection in 2021. The Records catalogue (three LPs and various 45s on Virgin during 1978-1982) is unfortunately out of print and largely unavailable on streaming services. We had hoped that Universal might reissue The Records material, albeit it to a modest market, or consider licensing the recordings to a third party for a CD-set - maybe in 2024?
Best wishes for the holiday season and beyond, Will Birch at therecords.com
_________________________________
It's like the Beatles but better.
bluhammock
_________________________________
The Records! What a great band. Only a handful of times in my 62 years can I remember exactly where I was when I heard a song. End of August 79, just before returning to Syracuse for sophomore year, in my bedroom at my parents' house, Starry Eyes came on WBCN….and I was like " oh my god what the hell is THIS???" A few days later I learned they'd be doing a free show on campus. And they were killer. In a set only 65 minutes long, they played most of their great debut album, several tunes from their yet-to-be-recorded sophomore effort (including Hearts in Her Eyes), and covers of Rock and Roll Love Letter and Spirit's 1984. In the heyday of power pop, the Records epitomized that genre….fun, hard rocking, tuneful….just great rock and roll that rattles around in my brain to this day, 44 years later. Thanks for reminding me of a great band and a wonderful time in music and my life.
Mitch Goldman
_________________________________
Rachel Sweet backed up Graham Parker on his Squeezing out Sparks tour when they played Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom in 1979 or so. Before Rachel Sweet, on the same bill was Fingerprintz. Interestingly when Fingerprintz finished their set, they came back and backed up Rachel Sweet.
On another note a few of us were huge City Boy fans back in the day. They too played the Commodore in the mid to late 70's. I remember the concert if only because chairs were set up on the Ballroom floor for everyone to sit on. Perhaps the first and only time we sat in chairs at the Commodore which is famous for its 'bouncing' floor which encourages everyone to stand and move to the music.
Love your trips down memory lane.
Matthew Asher
_________________________________
Hey Bob City Boy producer was Mutt Lange .... he also produced an Outlaws record for me that was on Arista Records
Great record had vocals similar to the early Def Leppard
As Mutt was doing Outlaws, Def Leppard, AC/DC and City Boy all in the matter of maybe 4 years.
Charlie Brusco
_________________________________
Great column. I must have sold off 2000 of my LPs trying to shed possessions and the detritus. There are many LPs, I will never give up, like the obscure stuff Nick Drake, Bruce Cockburn, and Richard Thompson and all the British folkies, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Pentangle, etc....The Records LP grabbed me the first time I heard it and it is a keeper. If I recall correctly my copy of Starry Eyes actually came with a 45 too. If it did I can't find it. But yeah what a great song. (It reminds me of that later Searchers song when they were making a comeback. I know, "you must remember this..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK6v0PBDSy0
Chip Lovitt
_________________________________
I stumbled on this inside story from Will Birch about The Records US tour for the second album while doing a deep after your entertaining post. Thought you might enjoy it.
https://willbirch.com/2020/07/15/40-years-ago-today-the-records-1980/
Ralph Covert
_________________________________
Rachel Sweet, Horslips, city Boy, and Strawbs in one blog!? My radio career was not a waste! Thanks for the quick trip down a dark alley next to Memory Lane.
Bob Walton
_________________________________
Dude! Wish I could have been in on that conversation! Absolutely lurve The Records and Rachel Sweet, saw them both at the El Mocambo in Toronto when their first albums came out. Saw City Boy opening for Be Bop Deluxe. Had the Stone The Crows 1st album, Like Andy, I was onto Genesis from the get and yes, Foxtrot is brilliant. Didn't see that tour but caught the Selling England By The Pound tour at Massey Hall and they played Supper's Ready from Foxtrot and it absolutely blew my mind. Strawbs and Wakeman - check and check. Horslips!?! The Man Who Sold America is still a personal fave. I think we lived parallel lives…
Mike Campbell
Programming Director
_________________________________
Dyan Diamond did play the Whiskey. I was there. We were booking her for a show in San Diego. Kim Fowley was there too (of course). I think it was the only time I was backstage at the Whiskey. I believe she lives in So Cal and is no longer in the biz. That's about as much as I've been able to figure out. I still have some fond memories of being in a hotel bathroom with her, my friend and Greg Kihn with Greg's manager pounding on the door trying to get us out of there.
The Strawbs were a great band for their time.
Bruce Greenberg
_________________________________
Always enjoy your writing. This one included some artists I've loved along the way. The Records were one of the greatest power pop artists of all time. Their song Up All Night remains one of the most beautiful songs ever, a new wave Beach Boys song perhaps!? And your mention of Badger made me smile, their first album was magnificent, sort of like Yes around THE YES ALBUM (maybe a bit harder and w a touch of the blues) of course due to ex-YES keys man Tony Kaye, and Badger lead singer David Foster co-writing two early YES songs w Anderson. If you're a YES fan haven't heard the band FLASH, their first album is great, featuring Peter Banks ex-YES guitar player, it sounds like a great lost YES album : ) And of course Genesis whether Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound or the Lamb, singlehandedly, w Gabriel, they set a blueprint for just how ambitious and awe inspiring progressive rock can be. One last thought on YES, if you've never listened to TO BE OVER from Relayer or their much unfairly maligned amazing Tales album, its some of the most, beautiful, brilliant, and timeless music ever created...
Jimmy Steal
_________________________________
Yeah, it's a quintessential power pop song. I was friendly with John Wicks, one of the song's writers, toward the end of his life. He was an affable guy.
emiltonmyers
_________________________________
"Hearts" is on so many of my playlists. The Records' Live version shows they can/could sing and play their butts off for reall (and with fewer than 8,000 plays on Spotify—a crime!)
Mat Orefice
_________________________________
Bob!!! Great to see you write about the Records. As a junior at the University of Wisconsin in 1981, a friend gave me a recorded cassette of the first two Records albums. I played it incessantly. I searched the record stores in Madison and could never find the actual albums. In the late 1990's, still unable to find the albums in Denver, I bought a CD burner and I transferred these cassettes to a CD. I still have it and it still gets played. They were a GREAT band and deserve much more attention than they ever got!!!
ShineOn!
MartyHecker
_________________________________
Stiff records indeed. Best t-shirt ever: "If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth A F*ck"
Played Rachel Sweet's "B-A-B-Y" a lot on WLIR. I think she was 16 when that album came out?
Bob Waugh
Annapolis
_________________________________
Great article! I have that Searchers album and that song is one of my wife's favorites!!
Steve Whitfield
_________________________________
We always referred to obscure bands or records as of "kiss of death" records. We'd buy one of their records and you'd never hear of them again. I had The Strawbs, City Boy and Horslips, and saw Maggie Bell open for somebody at The Spectrum in Philly maybe the mid to late 70"s.
Keep up the good work.
Gary Jackson
_________________________________
The Records had an EP that was enclosed with their first US album, that showcased their varied influences. I was totally unfamiliar with the original versions of "1984" by Spirit and "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her) by Blue Ash, but The Records introduced me to them.
Also, I saw the Searchers in their skinny tie period at My Father's Place nightclub on Long Island to drum up support for "Hearts In Her Eyes". They performed letter perfect versions of all their mid 60s hits and I was not disappointed.
Stuart Taubel
_________________________________
Down that same Brit rock rabbit hole you could find records by the band Bronco, with one of the better Brit raspy-voiced singers, Jess Roden (who distinguished himself on the Paul Kossoff track, "Molten Gold," in a duet with Paul Rodgers) and guitarist Robbie Blunt, who made lovely Strat sounds on the Robert Plant 80's track, "Big Log."
Robert Miranda
_________________________________
Dave Cousins and the Strawbs, What a lovely group. Had the chance to see them one time at Winterland in SF.
And how about Lindisfarne and Stackridge and Glencoe and the Sutherland Brothers and Wishbone Ash?
Pretty sure they meet the definition of being obscure,
Best,
Michael Wright
_________________________________
Can of worms ….. down the rabbit hole
Lindisfarne - Fog On The Tyne
David Ackles - American Gothic
Bram Tchaikovsky - Strange Man, Changed Man
Doug Pomerantz
_________________________________
The Strawbs (post-Wakeman) were pretty big in Montreal, where I went to university. Their song "Hero and Heroine" was played constantly on the local rock FM station. I have three or four of their albums, as I suspect do many people of my vintage who were music fans in Montreal in those days.
City Boy! I have the first album and used to listen to it all the time before punk came along and changed my taste. In fact, I just listened to most of it again a few months ago. It's a bit on the precious side, but is certainly very well put together. And who was the producer who gave it that sheen? The young Mutt Lange. First time I ever saw his name on a record, I think.
Rachel Sweet was beloved by the punk crowd, partly thanks to getting lumped in with the other Ohio bands who sounded nothing like her, like Devo and Pere Ubu, but also because her records were good: nice throwbacks to the early 60s girl group sound.
As for "Hearts in Her Eyes", I loved both versions. The Records, of course, also had a much loved semi-hit with "Starry Eyes".
I'm not sure what it says that I have so many of the total obscurities you discussed.
Tycho Manson
_________________________________
Did you say Horslips? That is not a sentence I have uttered or even considered, well, ever -- until now when I read your latest missive.
Since you are one of the few people I know of on this side of the Atlantic who is aware of this long-overlooked Celtic-meets-rock band, you may be tickled to learn that this year saw the release of a 35-CD (!!!) Horslips box set, the wryly tilted "More Than You Can Chew." More, indeed!
https://www.celticnote.com/merch/horslipsboxset
Good call on Maggie Bell, her second and final solo album for Swan Song, 1975's "Suicide Sal," still sounds terrific and features two guitar cameos by Jimmy Page, plus one of the most rocking Beatles' cover versions ever and her excellent redntion of two latter-day songs by Free.
As for some of my favorite obscure albums from the '70s, I'll cite three: "Eggs Over Easy" by the American trio of the same name that moved to London and kick-started the pub-rock movement; "Glencoe" by Glencoe (great songs, great band; no hint of commercial sucess); and "Plainsong" by the Ian Matthews-led Plainsong, whose vocal harmonies CSNY surely would have admired. (Years later, Glenn Frey publicly acknowledged that Matthews' arrangement of Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road," from one of Matthews; solo albums, heavily influenced the Eagles' version of the same song).
Cheers,
George Varga
_________________________________
Obscure records... that could be the theme of my life! Loving obscure records. I would buy them at full retail and then see them in the cutout bins for 49 cents a year later. It was so disheartening. Horslips was certainly one of those. The Man Who Built America on DJM!!! What a GREAT album. So many great melodies and potential hit singles.
Rachel Sweet too... Her version of Del Shannon's "I Go To Pieces" is the best I've ever heard, superior to the hit version by Peter and Gordon. I even remember the catalog number of the single because it meant that much to me. Stiff - BUY 44 (it was the first "import" single I ever bought!) The b-side was the equally great "Who Does Lisa Like". The Records backed her. Not only on a track or two but also on the Be Stiff tour (despite the fact that they were on Virgin). The debut album by The Records had a HUGE impact on me. I listened to it daily for a long time...the American version. I later bought the import which had a different running order and the original version of "Starry Eyes" but I preferred the American version with the tracks segueing into one another seamlessly. I was still young when that record came out (I turned 12 in 1978), so I was too young to see them live back then, but when lead singer John Wicks was living in the DC area and putting together a new "Records" band, I had a chance to meet him and we quickly became close friends. Over the weekend I was organizing boxes of cassettes from my past (thousands of them) and I came across all of his demo tapes from the mid 1990s and several live recordings that I made at various venues at the time. He had a great band, the old songs sounded ridiculously good, and his new songs stood up besides them. I do miss him. He was a great guy and a huge talent.
Strawbs - also a favorite of mine...I have every album on original vinyl and remastered CD (except for the ones only on CD!). Some of their records are better than others and they have gone through many different flavors throughout the years but they've always maintained their Strawbishness. From folk to folk-prog to prog to hard rock to pop, etc. The album with Wakeman that still floors me is From the Witchwood. Wakeman plays every keyboard you can imagine on it and it all sounds wonderful and not pompous at all. Some of the late 70s stuff sounds almost Badfinger-ish...check out "I Only Want My Love to Grow in You". That cut could have made it onto the Ham and Gibbons-less Airwaves record. I think Dave Cousins' voice may have been too trad-English-folk for many people though....
What about Fotomaker? Charlie? Pearl Harbour and the Explosions? The Cryers? Of course I could go on and on... But yeah, let's hear it for the great obscure records from yesteryear!
Dave DiSanzo
_________________________________
Jude Cole! Start the car 1992. One of my major favorites I still play all the time. Go check out the guys that played on the record. The guys from Toto, Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades, Tim Pierce, Lee Sklar, Lenny Castro & more. Incredible record!
Tom Hedtke
_________________________________
Thanks for reminding me of Jude Cole. Baby it's Tonight is such a great pop song. Early 90's. Bad timing. Melody in grunge era. Don't like the video but the song elevates. Yes poppy but that's OK.
https://youtu.be/4pavmG-YKLM?si=PiR8_dEapM6E9gSc
Derek Morris
_________________________________
Jude didn't give up. He is doing some incredible work these days. And yes, he's brilliant.
Kim Bullard
Best wishes for the holiday season and beyond, Will Birch at therecords.com
_________________________________
It's like the Beatles but better.
bluhammock
_________________________________
The Records! What a great band. Only a handful of times in my 62 years can I remember exactly where I was when I heard a song. End of August 79, just before returning to Syracuse for sophomore year, in my bedroom at my parents' house, Starry Eyes came on WBCN….and I was like " oh my god what the hell is THIS???" A few days later I learned they'd be doing a free show on campus. And they were killer. In a set only 65 minutes long, they played most of their great debut album, several tunes from their yet-to-be-recorded sophomore effort (including Hearts in Her Eyes), and covers of Rock and Roll Love Letter and Spirit's 1984. In the heyday of power pop, the Records epitomized that genre….fun, hard rocking, tuneful….just great rock and roll that rattles around in my brain to this day, 44 years later. Thanks for reminding me of a great band and a wonderful time in music and my life.
Mitch Goldman
_________________________________
Rachel Sweet backed up Graham Parker on his Squeezing out Sparks tour when they played Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom in 1979 or so. Before Rachel Sweet, on the same bill was Fingerprintz. Interestingly when Fingerprintz finished their set, they came back and backed up Rachel Sweet.
On another note a few of us were huge City Boy fans back in the day. They too played the Commodore in the mid to late 70's. I remember the concert if only because chairs were set up on the Ballroom floor for everyone to sit on. Perhaps the first and only time we sat in chairs at the Commodore which is famous for its 'bouncing' floor which encourages everyone to stand and move to the music.
Love your trips down memory lane.
Matthew Asher
_________________________________
Hey Bob City Boy producer was Mutt Lange .... he also produced an Outlaws record for me that was on Arista Records
Great record had vocals similar to the early Def Leppard
As Mutt was doing Outlaws, Def Leppard, AC/DC and City Boy all in the matter of maybe 4 years.
Charlie Brusco
_________________________________
Great column. I must have sold off 2000 of my LPs trying to shed possessions and the detritus. There are many LPs, I will never give up, like the obscure stuff Nick Drake, Bruce Cockburn, and Richard Thompson and all the British folkies, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Pentangle, etc....The Records LP grabbed me the first time I heard it and it is a keeper. If I recall correctly my copy of Starry Eyes actually came with a 45 too. If it did I can't find it. But yeah what a great song. (It reminds me of that later Searchers song when they were making a comeback. I know, "you must remember this..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK6v0PBDSy0
Chip Lovitt
_________________________________
I stumbled on this inside story from Will Birch about The Records US tour for the second album while doing a deep after your entertaining post. Thought you might enjoy it.
https://willbirch.com/2020/07/15/40-years-ago-today-the-records-1980/
Ralph Covert
_________________________________
Rachel Sweet, Horslips, city Boy, and Strawbs in one blog!? My radio career was not a waste! Thanks for the quick trip down a dark alley next to Memory Lane.
Bob Walton
_________________________________
Dude! Wish I could have been in on that conversation! Absolutely lurve The Records and Rachel Sweet, saw them both at the El Mocambo in Toronto when their first albums came out. Saw City Boy opening for Be Bop Deluxe. Had the Stone The Crows 1st album, Like Andy, I was onto Genesis from the get and yes, Foxtrot is brilliant. Didn't see that tour but caught the Selling England By The Pound tour at Massey Hall and they played Supper's Ready from Foxtrot and it absolutely blew my mind. Strawbs and Wakeman - check and check. Horslips!?! The Man Who Sold America is still a personal fave. I think we lived parallel lives…
Mike Campbell
Programming Director
_________________________________
Dyan Diamond did play the Whiskey. I was there. We were booking her for a show in San Diego. Kim Fowley was there too (of course). I think it was the only time I was backstage at the Whiskey. I believe she lives in So Cal and is no longer in the biz. That's about as much as I've been able to figure out. I still have some fond memories of being in a hotel bathroom with her, my friend and Greg Kihn with Greg's manager pounding on the door trying to get us out of there.
The Strawbs were a great band for their time.
Bruce Greenberg
_________________________________
Always enjoy your writing. This one included some artists I've loved along the way. The Records were one of the greatest power pop artists of all time. Their song Up All Night remains one of the most beautiful songs ever, a new wave Beach Boys song perhaps!? And your mention of Badger made me smile, their first album was magnificent, sort of like Yes around THE YES ALBUM (maybe a bit harder and w a touch of the blues) of course due to ex-YES keys man Tony Kaye, and Badger lead singer David Foster co-writing two early YES songs w Anderson. If you're a YES fan haven't heard the band FLASH, their first album is great, featuring Peter Banks ex-YES guitar player, it sounds like a great lost YES album : ) And of course Genesis whether Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound or the Lamb, singlehandedly, w Gabriel, they set a blueprint for just how ambitious and awe inspiring progressive rock can be. One last thought on YES, if you've never listened to TO BE OVER from Relayer or their much unfairly maligned amazing Tales album, its some of the most, beautiful, brilliant, and timeless music ever created...
Jimmy Steal
_________________________________
Yeah, it's a quintessential power pop song. I was friendly with John Wicks, one of the song's writers, toward the end of his life. He was an affable guy.
emiltonmyers
_________________________________
"Hearts" is on so many of my playlists. The Records' Live version shows they can/could sing and play their butts off for reall (and with fewer than 8,000 plays on Spotify—a crime!)
Mat Orefice
_________________________________
Bob!!! Great to see you write about the Records. As a junior at the University of Wisconsin in 1981, a friend gave me a recorded cassette of the first two Records albums. I played it incessantly. I searched the record stores in Madison and could never find the actual albums. In the late 1990's, still unable to find the albums in Denver, I bought a CD burner and I transferred these cassettes to a CD. I still have it and it still gets played. They were a GREAT band and deserve much more attention than they ever got!!!
ShineOn!
MartyHecker
_________________________________
Stiff records indeed. Best t-shirt ever: "If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth A F*ck"
Played Rachel Sweet's "B-A-B-Y" a lot on WLIR. I think she was 16 when that album came out?
Bob Waugh
Annapolis
_________________________________
Great article! I have that Searchers album and that song is one of my wife's favorites!!
Steve Whitfield
_________________________________
We always referred to obscure bands or records as of "kiss of death" records. We'd buy one of their records and you'd never hear of them again. I had The Strawbs, City Boy and Horslips, and saw Maggie Bell open for somebody at The Spectrum in Philly maybe the mid to late 70"s.
Keep up the good work.
Gary Jackson
_________________________________
The Records had an EP that was enclosed with their first US album, that showcased their varied influences. I was totally unfamiliar with the original versions of "1984" by Spirit and "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her) by Blue Ash, but The Records introduced me to them.
Also, I saw the Searchers in their skinny tie period at My Father's Place nightclub on Long Island to drum up support for "Hearts In Her Eyes". They performed letter perfect versions of all their mid 60s hits and I was not disappointed.
Stuart Taubel
_________________________________
Down that same Brit rock rabbit hole you could find records by the band Bronco, with one of the better Brit raspy-voiced singers, Jess Roden (who distinguished himself on the Paul Kossoff track, "Molten Gold," in a duet with Paul Rodgers) and guitarist Robbie Blunt, who made lovely Strat sounds on the Robert Plant 80's track, "Big Log."
Robert Miranda
_________________________________
Dave Cousins and the Strawbs, What a lovely group. Had the chance to see them one time at Winterland in SF.
And how about Lindisfarne and Stackridge and Glencoe and the Sutherland Brothers and Wishbone Ash?
Pretty sure they meet the definition of being obscure,
Best,
Michael Wright
_________________________________
Can of worms ….. down the rabbit hole
Lindisfarne - Fog On The Tyne
David Ackles - American Gothic
Bram Tchaikovsky - Strange Man, Changed Man
Doug Pomerantz
_________________________________
The Strawbs (post-Wakeman) were pretty big in Montreal, where I went to university. Their song "Hero and Heroine" was played constantly on the local rock FM station. I have three or four of their albums, as I suspect do many people of my vintage who were music fans in Montreal in those days.
City Boy! I have the first album and used to listen to it all the time before punk came along and changed my taste. In fact, I just listened to most of it again a few months ago. It's a bit on the precious side, but is certainly very well put together. And who was the producer who gave it that sheen? The young Mutt Lange. First time I ever saw his name on a record, I think.
Rachel Sweet was beloved by the punk crowd, partly thanks to getting lumped in with the other Ohio bands who sounded nothing like her, like Devo and Pere Ubu, but also because her records were good: nice throwbacks to the early 60s girl group sound.
As for "Hearts in Her Eyes", I loved both versions. The Records, of course, also had a much loved semi-hit with "Starry Eyes".
I'm not sure what it says that I have so many of the total obscurities you discussed.
Tycho Manson
_________________________________
Did you say Horslips? That is not a sentence I have uttered or even considered, well, ever -- until now when I read your latest missive.
Since you are one of the few people I know of on this side of the Atlantic who is aware of this long-overlooked Celtic-meets-rock band, you may be tickled to learn that this year saw the release of a 35-CD (!!!) Horslips box set, the wryly tilted "More Than You Can Chew." More, indeed!
https://www.celticnote.com/merch/horslipsboxset
Good call on Maggie Bell, her second and final solo album for Swan Song, 1975's "Suicide Sal," still sounds terrific and features two guitar cameos by Jimmy Page, plus one of the most rocking Beatles' cover versions ever and her excellent redntion of two latter-day songs by Free.
As for some of my favorite obscure albums from the '70s, I'll cite three: "Eggs Over Easy" by the American trio of the same name that moved to London and kick-started the pub-rock movement; "Glencoe" by Glencoe (great songs, great band; no hint of commercial sucess); and "Plainsong" by the Ian Matthews-led Plainsong, whose vocal harmonies CSNY surely would have admired. (Years later, Glenn Frey publicly acknowledged that Matthews' arrangement of Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road," from one of Matthews; solo albums, heavily influenced the Eagles' version of the same song).
Cheers,
George Varga
_________________________________
Obscure records... that could be the theme of my life! Loving obscure records. I would buy them at full retail and then see them in the cutout bins for 49 cents a year later. It was so disheartening. Horslips was certainly one of those. The Man Who Built America on DJM!!! What a GREAT album. So many great melodies and potential hit singles.
Rachel Sweet too... Her version of Del Shannon's "I Go To Pieces" is the best I've ever heard, superior to the hit version by Peter and Gordon. I even remember the catalog number of the single because it meant that much to me. Stiff - BUY 44 (it was the first "import" single I ever bought!) The b-side was the equally great "Who Does Lisa Like". The Records backed her. Not only on a track or two but also on the Be Stiff tour (despite the fact that they were on Virgin). The debut album by The Records had a HUGE impact on me. I listened to it daily for a long time...the American version. I later bought the import which had a different running order and the original version of "Starry Eyes" but I preferred the American version with the tracks segueing into one another seamlessly. I was still young when that record came out (I turned 12 in 1978), so I was too young to see them live back then, but when lead singer John Wicks was living in the DC area and putting together a new "Records" band, I had a chance to meet him and we quickly became close friends. Over the weekend I was organizing boxes of cassettes from my past (thousands of them) and I came across all of his demo tapes from the mid 1990s and several live recordings that I made at various venues at the time. He had a great band, the old songs sounded ridiculously good, and his new songs stood up besides them. I do miss him. He was a great guy and a huge talent.
Strawbs - also a favorite of mine...I have every album on original vinyl and remastered CD (except for the ones only on CD!). Some of their records are better than others and they have gone through many different flavors throughout the years but they've always maintained their Strawbishness. From folk to folk-prog to prog to hard rock to pop, etc. The album with Wakeman that still floors me is From the Witchwood. Wakeman plays every keyboard you can imagine on it and it all sounds wonderful and not pompous at all. Some of the late 70s stuff sounds almost Badfinger-ish...check out "I Only Want My Love to Grow in You". That cut could have made it onto the Ham and Gibbons-less Airwaves record. I think Dave Cousins' voice may have been too trad-English-folk for many people though....
What about Fotomaker? Charlie? Pearl Harbour and the Explosions? The Cryers? Of course I could go on and on... But yeah, let's hear it for the great obscure records from yesteryear!
Dave DiSanzo
_________________________________
Jude Cole! Start the car 1992. One of my major favorites I still play all the time. Go check out the guys that played on the record. The guys from Toto, Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades, Tim Pierce, Lee Sklar, Lenny Castro & more. Incredible record!
Tom Hedtke
_________________________________
Thanks for reminding me of Jude Cole. Baby it's Tonight is such a great pop song. Early 90's. Bad timing. Melody in grunge era. Don't like the video but the song elevates. Yes poppy but that's OK.
https://youtu.be/4pavmG-YKLM?si=PiR8_dEapM6E9gSc
Derek Morris
_________________________________
Jude didn't give up. He is doing some incredible work these days. And yes, he's brilliant.
Kim Bullard
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Re-Football/WaPo
Football is now the game everybody's watching and nobody's playing -- Think any-given-Sunday gladiators, or, if you're a Boomer: Rollerball -- while soccer is the game everybody's playing and nobody's watching.
The son of a highly regarded high school football coach, I played the sport though middle and high school. Truth be told, when my high school days were over, I was relieved to let go of the drudgery of that annual football obligation and turn my attention in college to my true love: lacrosse. (Full Disclosure: I also presided over the decision to drop football at the private high school where I have worked -- and also attended and played football for -- for 45+ years.)
Although I obviously "get" the rationale for footbaIl's decline, I also truly hope that the obsession, rational though it is, with the concussion issue will leave some room for some discussion about how we can retain the truly valuable lessons that football -- as in, football alone -- teaches. Three examples follow.
1. Beyond the obvious mano mano "I'm-going-to-run-into-you-and-you're-going-to-run-into-me" primal courage thing -- I know, completely out of fashion these days -- no other sport demands as much humility due to its team-first ethos. Second, no other sport demands as much trust due to the "do your job" mindset that every serious football player must understand and accept. (e.g., Even if you have the best quarterback on the planet, he must sit and watch hopefully and supportively while his teammates defend the goal line. No other team sport demands such specific demarcation of shared responsibilities.) Third, no other sport taxes the brain to such a high extent. It's chess with people. (On the one hand, throughout my playing days, I rarely missed a blocking or defensive assignment. On the other, I must also confess that I never fully understood the complicated schemes behind our plays or defensive objectives.) Suffice it to say that the completely off-the-mark "dumb jock" stereotype had to have been coined by someone who never played the game.
So, here's to hoping that before we kick football completely to the curb, we will give at least some thought to ways that we can preserve some of its invaluable lessons.
Malcolm Gauld
___________________________________
My sons will never play football, given the incidents of CTE. We won't even let them play soccer as they see it there, too (though not to the same extent).
And, nope, I will not support Musk. My preferred electric is a Rivian.
Travis Wilson
___________________________________
100%. I stopped watching a few years ago when I realized I was too wrapped up my fantasy football team and not enough in the game itself. I also find the player/ownership structure borders on the time of the plantation, at both the college and pro level. I've taken to watching a game or so a week lately on my pvr with the sound off and my finger on the jump ahead 30 seconds button. I can usually get through a game in about 45 minutes and yes, I do feel badly for the players so I'm not sure how much I will continue to watch. Thanks for this article, it certainly gives me plenty to consider.
Best regards,
Michael Craig
___________________________________
I'm not so sure tackle football is going anywhere anytime soon. Progressive states might ban it for kids and implement stricter rules for high school. The NCAA and the NFL will figure out a way to attract young men to play...The same way the military recruits young men to serve by promising a "future". According to this article, they're already recruiting the same demographic.
There's just too much money involved. NCAA's NIL is at its infancy stage. And the NFL will increase rookie contracts and health benefits to do whatever it takes to attract the players. Tackle football's Talking Heads will point out that men's rugby has a higher rate of concussion and women's hockey is not that far behind men's tackle football. And then they'll come up with more PSA's to show how well they are mitigating CTE. As long as they can keep making progress, people will tune in.
Duff Rice
___________________________________
Football is an American Sport, uniquely able to keep poorer, more desperate people of the world at bay.
Boxing has few Americans prominent in the sport, foreign desire, desperation and a means to escape something worse than even the poor in the US pushed Americans out.
Baseball is increasing multiculturalism from some of the poorest parts of the hemisphere.
Football has no poorer competition than poor Americans in poor states looking for a way out. It will fall, but will take a while.
Sean Tighe
___________________________________
Are you against kids and older playing soccer? Lots of concern about that too.
Good luck on convincing parents from preventing their kids from playing either.
Richard Rosenberg
(Note: That was the point of the article, parents who are not letting their kids play tackle football. Also, because of CTE, I'm down with banning heading in soccer.)
___________________________________
Soccer, the largest sport on the globe, suffers from the same CTE issues…both men's and woman's. It's an another unaddressed elephant in the room.
Appreciate you.
Tom Gribbin
___________________________________
The termination of football, boxing, cage fighting and gas powered cars may have expiration dates, but not in our lifetimes nor our kids.
And there are opportunities to grow football outside the US. Remember when basketball was dominated by US players? The last 5 years league's MVP award went to foreign born players, as was this year's number one overall draft pick. The best baseball player today, perhaps ever, is from Japan.
And as for the world's favorite sport, soccer, it is also prone to CTE.
And the same parents wanting to protect their kids from participating in contact sports are also likely the most willing to line them up for dangerous medical treatments, so there's that.
Ed Kelly
___________________________________
I've been worried about the demise of football ever since I read an article predicting the end of the NFL by the year 2000 all the way back in a 1976 Phila Daily News piece.
So I started reading per your suggestion. But I stopped when an expert suggested who you voted for president could lead to your son getting brain damage.
The reverse may mean that the other half children may become overweight couch potatoes after their sex change operations.
Sorry turned me off.
Keep up the good work.
Bob Drumm
(Note: That was the exact point of the article, that conservatives let their kids play tackle football more than liberals.)
___________________________________
There is nothing that can be done to a helmet to change the physics of what happens inside the skulls of players in a collision. And as they keep getting faster and heavier, there are worse hits coming in the future than we've ever seen. Tragedy waiting to happen.
Michael Alex
___________________________________
I'm just a guy in (football-crazed) Texas. The Almighty Football doesn't show many signs of slowing down here. That said, the folks in my social circle are by and large relieved when their sons hang up their cleats. Most before HS and after only two seasons of contact (all flag here before 6th grade). As a spectator, even eliminating CTE from the equation (which you can't), I am less and less able to watch with all the horrific injuries on a game by game basis. Training, nutrition, and body construction have increased the force (speed x mass) of the hits beyond what the human body can withstand. At this point it's a blood sport. I'm not good with people getting maimed and/or dying for my entertainment.
Tim Wood
___________________________________
Glad you're calling attention to this.
Like yourself, I no longer watch football, and Super Bowl is less "watching" than passively letting the tsunami of content wash over.
Sean Murphy
___________________________________
Re: "the changing face of America's favorite sport"
There's a big assumption in your take on the eventual end of tackle football, and it's that sports fans won't have the stomach to watch people enact sanctioned violence against each other for our entertainment.
I don't see any evidence for that position. NFL football is breaking viewership records and is 4-5x more popular than the NBA, the next most popular sport (check out the ratings when they face off head-to-head if you don't believe me).
And here's what a nationally representative survey of American sports fans found (2023 Kantar Sports MONITOR, April, among 5,000 self-identified sports fans ages 12+;):
Which describes your preference better?
22% agree: I tend to avoid watching sports in which athletes are at risk of injury
78% agree: I do not mind watching sports in which athletes are in risk of injury
80% of sports fans agree, "Concussions and brain injuries are an inescapable part of playing professional football"
45% agree, "Rule changes to protect players from head injuries/concussions make the game less exciting"
I don't know why anyone would bet against the American public's appetite for violence -- especially when they can rationalize it away with, "They knew the risks they were getting into -- and are paid handsomely for it."
Ryan McConnell
___________________________________
I'm glad you think tackle football will come to an end.
I don't watch football because of the injury risk. But I love the game, and I always say if the NFL (or the NCAA) were a flag football league, I'd be its biggest supporter. The strategy and athleticism involved in football are wonderful, but it's NOT worth the long-term consequences.
My primary sport is baseball, mainly because the concussion risk is much lower. Yes, players get hurt all the time, but unless it's a freak accident, major brain trauma isn't generally a concern. I also love that sometimes the injury is a hangnail and, to quote George Carlin, when it rains, we don't go out to play!
Cheers,
Amy Mantis
___________________________________
Great post. And spot on.
A few additional points:
The availability of insurance is a driver of this issue. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/02/06/insurance-costs-youth-sports-football-prohibit-playing-coach-poverty-column/2772939002/ I wonder how many high school programs can afford the policy premiums to cover the sport. I wonder how many schools are fielding teams without any insurance. The insurance companies know the truth: the game is dangerous. And they won't insure it without getting big money, if they will insure it at all.
Do not look to our national media platforms to educate the public on this issue. CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN and Amazon Prime are all making too much money to bite the hand that feeds them. An occasional story, yes. (Thank you, 60 Minutes.) A public health campaign warning of the risks of the game, never. The networks will cry dry tears and take the billions in advertising money.
Paul V. Nunes
Rochester, NY
___________________________________
I've been saying it for years: modern helmets and pads ruined the game. Football is all about mass and gravity now – as opposed to speed, strength, and agility.
Take away the helmets and pads, and the players will be smaller, faster, and more creative – and players will stop using their heads as a weapon.
I won't go back to American football until the helmets and pads are gone. Until then I am very much enjoying MLS as my favorite sports distraction.
Best regards,
Michael Hardy
___________________________________
Gotta love the WaPo commentator: an associate professor of sociology from Skidmore.
Sounds more like the Babylon Bee!
Participation trophies all around here!
LOL
jimed
(Note: And there you have it, if it's uttered by an elite college professor it must be wrong.)
___________________________________
Hey Bob.
I gave up on NFL ages ago too. Only thing left that pisses me off about football is that it pushes back the start of CBS's 60 minutes on Sunday night on the East coast.
First world problems…
Rob Braide
___________________________________
I won't, I didn't, never watch violence as entertainment. Violent people start out stupid and get more so.
But then I'm not a dog person either.
Lou Judson
___________________________________
I'm a liberal - I get it - but I love football.
Beth Black
___________________________________
Ten years ago, a research study of athletes training for the Olympics asked them "If you could use something that would guarantee you a Gold medal in the Olympics but it would kill you in 5 years, would you use it?" Almost 50% said yes.
The combination of glory and money is a powerful seducer.
John Parikhal
___________________________________
I love the NYT but I think they are in the ivory tower on this one. My son attends the priciest private school in our city and football is booming there and the other private schools. Sure some parents hold their kids out but the kids of a whole lot of upper middle class and above families many of whom are democrats or independents are playing. Just the observations of one guy "on the ground."
That said we didn't let our older son play until middle school (a long way from when I started when I was 6) and he lost that 1st year to Covid so he just played his 3rd year and loves it. My younger son is 9 and is playing flag which the local youth tackle league started offering. The flag league fills up with waiting lists every season. They license NFL team names and jerseys.
Craig Davis
(Note: Anecdotal evidence, interesting, but irrelevant to the study/facts in the article.)
___________________________________
Unfortunately, the gambling industry and the remnants of network TV have too much invested in pro football. Colleges make too much money in it, let alone the NFL owners cabal.
The working man has too much invested in his Sundays. And the poor black kids need a vehicle out of the hood. And the QB lottery is worth playing for the select few because the money is blindingly huge.
My problem is that the athletes today are far less educated than the generation I grew up with - guys that actually were Student/Athletes - and as a result, with the stakes so high, play calling is by committee so the heroics that could truly inspire us are now scripted by the statisticians and the coordinators. And stupidity is rampant. And there's a ridiculously high percentage of players with felony problems. I remember when Fran Tarkenton was on the Giants and intentionally ran plays into the baseball infield hashmarks in Yankee Stadium so he could scratch out the next play in the dirt. He was a role model.
Jonathan Gross
___________________________________
Great piece. Just wanted to note that the C.T.E. issue extends beyond American football, notably with the sport that most of the world classifies as "football":
https://apnews.com/article/soccer-heading-brain-injuries-db83f3b292ee255326b6efdf01d8f9e8
And it doesn't end there:
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/young-amateur-athletes-at-risk-of-cte-study-finds/
Darrin Keene
___________________________________
People don't want to be told what to do by government, Bob.
J.E.
(Nowhere in the article is this referenced. This is knee-jerk conservatism.)
___________________________________
i really appreciate when you write about things like this, and share articles. i always click the links when you share something.
soccer has a growing cte problem as well. kids heading a ball that is as hard as a rock can cause issues.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37403989/#:~:text=Rule%20changes%20in%20heading%20duels,in%20(retired)%20soccer%20players.
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/soccer-cte-safety-1.6845197
and of course hockey has had this issue for as long as football...except in hockey, due to the league commissioner being a lawyer, they are in a state of denial.
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/19/1170802375/nhl-hockey-cte-brain-disease
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/henri-richard-cte-1.6876247
both of my kids take tae kwon do, and are on the way to a black belt. yet they have never sparred or had any contact to their heads. this was my choice and one that was wholly endorsed by the club they attend. i think the more parents find out about cte and brain injuries, the more they will not allow their kids to play these sports. i read that ny times article when it came out and it broke my heart.
thanks again.
keep up the great work.
happy holidays,
derek sumisu
___________________________________
Football is a gladiator sport, someone always dies, albeit not immediately. Common sense makes it hard to ignore. Have you ever been knocked out? Once was enough for me.
The problem is the sport is weaponized, helmets provide the illusion of safety but it is also a constant point of contact. It's happeing with soccer players who are heading balls constantly and with force.
Solution, take the helmets and pads all away. You are less likely to head butt someone without one. What does this look like as a sport then?? Exactly like Aussie Rules Football. The coolest game of all. No protective gear just a knee/elbow brace or two. Hardly any significant injuries; passing, catching, running and kicking all at the same time. Exciting and aLOT safer than USFootball.
Tesla, hands down best technology platform, but a friend gave me a spin in his new Porsche EV, the middles sized one and it was mindblowing the handling does rings around the Tesla, but second tier tech. Your choice.
John Brodey
___________________________________
I recently leased a Genesis GV60, and I'd recommend it to anyone—with a few caveats—who is in the market for a full EV. I drove the competing Teslas, Hyundais, Fords, Cadillacs, and Kias, and didn't like any of them nearly as well as the Genesis. I wouldn't have bought a Tesla at this point under any circumstances—my symbolic if meaningless vote against Elon Musk in the economic marketplace.
The GV60 is beautiful. It is fast. It is comfortable. As you know, Genesis uses an 800 volt charging architecture, making it more advanced than Tesla, at least in terms of charging times where it is twice as fast, if you can find a 350kW charger. It is stuffed full of the driver-assist kinds of technology that will yield safer-than-human self-driving cars somewhere down the road. The tech is such that the learning curve is steep, and the factory-provided manual is useless. (Why don't foreign companies hire fluent English speakers to translate their manuals?). But user forums, and YouTube come to the rescue.
The major downside is of course the charging network. The nascent and unreliable Electrify America charging network, owned by Volkswagen North America, has forced Hyundai and other non-Tesla manufacturers, to give buyers three free years of charging at their trough. Sadly, as the WSJ points out, finding operational chargers is a hit and miss proposition. One assumes the fault-haunted network will improve in 2024. In 2025, I expect the charging networks to agree to the Tesla standard, whereupon the range/charging anxiety will dissipate.
In the meantime, Genesis could do more. There are three trim levels. The lowest delivers the best range at 300+ miles. That's because it sits on 19" wheels and has only a single motor, meaning the car is rear-wheel drive. It's silly not to offer a top-trim version of the RWD long-range crossover. The top two trim levels currently employ two motors and 21" wheels, killing about a third of the lower model's range by going AWD.
I mention the trim level disparity in range because when you reviewed the GV60, they of course provided you with the top trim version, and this is a long-winded way of saying the range issue is resolvable by anyone will to spend less on the car. The charging issue, not so much.
Jon Sinton
___________________________________
Hi Bob. I'm the lead writer of the Washington Post project on youth football participation that you wrote about in today's newsletter. I also wrote two of the four geographical dispatches (Abilene, Tex. and Dayton, Ohio) that make up the rest of the project and that explore various aspects of the participation trendlines. (Two brilliant colleagues wrote the ones from Starkville, Miss. and Sacramento.)
Just wanted to say thanks for the shout-out. As it happens, I'm also a subscriber of your newsletter and a musician/songwriter who typically reads you to get insight into the music biz, perhaps the only industry more confounding than journalism.
Anyway, happy holidays and all that jazz. And thanks again for the kind words about our project.
Dave Sheinin
The son of a highly regarded high school football coach, I played the sport though middle and high school. Truth be told, when my high school days were over, I was relieved to let go of the drudgery of that annual football obligation and turn my attention in college to my true love: lacrosse. (Full Disclosure: I also presided over the decision to drop football at the private high school where I have worked -- and also attended and played football for -- for 45+ years.)
Although I obviously "get" the rationale for footbaIl's decline, I also truly hope that the obsession, rational though it is, with the concussion issue will leave some room for some discussion about how we can retain the truly valuable lessons that football -- as in, football alone -- teaches. Three examples follow.
1. Beyond the obvious mano mano "I'm-going-to-run-into-you-and-you're-going-to-run-into-me" primal courage thing -- I know, completely out of fashion these days -- no other sport demands as much humility due to its team-first ethos. Second, no other sport demands as much trust due to the "do your job" mindset that every serious football player must understand and accept. (e.g., Even if you have the best quarterback on the planet, he must sit and watch hopefully and supportively while his teammates defend the goal line. No other team sport demands such specific demarcation of shared responsibilities.) Third, no other sport taxes the brain to such a high extent. It's chess with people. (On the one hand, throughout my playing days, I rarely missed a blocking or defensive assignment. On the other, I must also confess that I never fully understood the complicated schemes behind our plays or defensive objectives.) Suffice it to say that the completely off-the-mark "dumb jock" stereotype had to have been coined by someone who never played the game.
So, here's to hoping that before we kick football completely to the curb, we will give at least some thought to ways that we can preserve some of its invaluable lessons.
Malcolm Gauld
___________________________________
My sons will never play football, given the incidents of CTE. We won't even let them play soccer as they see it there, too (though not to the same extent).
And, nope, I will not support Musk. My preferred electric is a Rivian.
Travis Wilson
___________________________________
100%. I stopped watching a few years ago when I realized I was too wrapped up my fantasy football team and not enough in the game itself. I also find the player/ownership structure borders on the time of the plantation, at both the college and pro level. I've taken to watching a game or so a week lately on my pvr with the sound off and my finger on the jump ahead 30 seconds button. I can usually get through a game in about 45 minutes and yes, I do feel badly for the players so I'm not sure how much I will continue to watch. Thanks for this article, it certainly gives me plenty to consider.
Best regards,
Michael Craig
___________________________________
I'm not so sure tackle football is going anywhere anytime soon. Progressive states might ban it for kids and implement stricter rules for high school. The NCAA and the NFL will figure out a way to attract young men to play...The same way the military recruits young men to serve by promising a "future". According to this article, they're already recruiting the same demographic.
There's just too much money involved. NCAA's NIL is at its infancy stage. And the NFL will increase rookie contracts and health benefits to do whatever it takes to attract the players. Tackle football's Talking Heads will point out that men's rugby has a higher rate of concussion and women's hockey is not that far behind men's tackle football. And then they'll come up with more PSA's to show how well they are mitigating CTE. As long as they can keep making progress, people will tune in.
Duff Rice
___________________________________
Football is an American Sport, uniquely able to keep poorer, more desperate people of the world at bay.
Boxing has few Americans prominent in the sport, foreign desire, desperation and a means to escape something worse than even the poor in the US pushed Americans out.
Baseball is increasing multiculturalism from some of the poorest parts of the hemisphere.
Football has no poorer competition than poor Americans in poor states looking for a way out. It will fall, but will take a while.
Sean Tighe
___________________________________
Are you against kids and older playing soccer? Lots of concern about that too.
Good luck on convincing parents from preventing their kids from playing either.
Richard Rosenberg
(Note: That was the point of the article, parents who are not letting their kids play tackle football. Also, because of CTE, I'm down with banning heading in soccer.)
___________________________________
Soccer, the largest sport on the globe, suffers from the same CTE issues…both men's and woman's. It's an another unaddressed elephant in the room.
Appreciate you.
Tom Gribbin
___________________________________
The termination of football, boxing, cage fighting and gas powered cars may have expiration dates, but not in our lifetimes nor our kids.
And there are opportunities to grow football outside the US. Remember when basketball was dominated by US players? The last 5 years league's MVP award went to foreign born players, as was this year's number one overall draft pick. The best baseball player today, perhaps ever, is from Japan.
And as for the world's favorite sport, soccer, it is also prone to CTE.
And the same parents wanting to protect their kids from participating in contact sports are also likely the most willing to line them up for dangerous medical treatments, so there's that.
Ed Kelly
___________________________________
I've been worried about the demise of football ever since I read an article predicting the end of the NFL by the year 2000 all the way back in a 1976 Phila Daily News piece.
So I started reading per your suggestion. But I stopped when an expert suggested who you voted for president could lead to your son getting brain damage.
The reverse may mean that the other half children may become overweight couch potatoes after their sex change operations.
Sorry turned me off.
Keep up the good work.
Bob Drumm
(Note: That was the exact point of the article, that conservatives let their kids play tackle football more than liberals.)
___________________________________
There is nothing that can be done to a helmet to change the physics of what happens inside the skulls of players in a collision. And as they keep getting faster and heavier, there are worse hits coming in the future than we've ever seen. Tragedy waiting to happen.
Michael Alex
___________________________________
I'm just a guy in (football-crazed) Texas. The Almighty Football doesn't show many signs of slowing down here. That said, the folks in my social circle are by and large relieved when their sons hang up their cleats. Most before HS and after only two seasons of contact (all flag here before 6th grade). As a spectator, even eliminating CTE from the equation (which you can't), I am less and less able to watch with all the horrific injuries on a game by game basis. Training, nutrition, and body construction have increased the force (speed x mass) of the hits beyond what the human body can withstand. At this point it's a blood sport. I'm not good with people getting maimed and/or dying for my entertainment.
Tim Wood
___________________________________
Glad you're calling attention to this.
Like yourself, I no longer watch football, and Super Bowl is less "watching" than passively letting the tsunami of content wash over.
Sean Murphy
___________________________________
Re: "the changing face of America's favorite sport"
There's a big assumption in your take on the eventual end of tackle football, and it's that sports fans won't have the stomach to watch people enact sanctioned violence against each other for our entertainment.
I don't see any evidence for that position. NFL football is breaking viewership records and is 4-5x more popular than the NBA, the next most popular sport (check out the ratings when they face off head-to-head if you don't believe me).
And here's what a nationally representative survey of American sports fans found (2023 Kantar Sports MONITOR, April, among 5,000 self-identified sports fans ages 12+;):
Which describes your preference better?
22% agree: I tend to avoid watching sports in which athletes are at risk of injury
78% agree: I do not mind watching sports in which athletes are in risk of injury
80% of sports fans agree, "Concussions and brain injuries are an inescapable part of playing professional football"
45% agree, "Rule changes to protect players from head injuries/concussions make the game less exciting"
I don't know why anyone would bet against the American public's appetite for violence -- especially when they can rationalize it away with, "They knew the risks they were getting into -- and are paid handsomely for it."
Ryan McConnell
___________________________________
I'm glad you think tackle football will come to an end.
I don't watch football because of the injury risk. But I love the game, and I always say if the NFL (or the NCAA) were a flag football league, I'd be its biggest supporter. The strategy and athleticism involved in football are wonderful, but it's NOT worth the long-term consequences.
My primary sport is baseball, mainly because the concussion risk is much lower. Yes, players get hurt all the time, but unless it's a freak accident, major brain trauma isn't generally a concern. I also love that sometimes the injury is a hangnail and, to quote George Carlin, when it rains, we don't go out to play!
Cheers,
Amy Mantis
___________________________________
Great post. And spot on.
A few additional points:
The availability of insurance is a driver of this issue. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/02/06/insurance-costs-youth-sports-football-prohibit-playing-coach-poverty-column/2772939002/ I wonder how many high school programs can afford the policy premiums to cover the sport. I wonder how many schools are fielding teams without any insurance. The insurance companies know the truth: the game is dangerous. And they won't insure it without getting big money, if they will insure it at all.
Do not look to our national media platforms to educate the public on this issue. CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN and Amazon Prime are all making too much money to bite the hand that feeds them. An occasional story, yes. (Thank you, 60 Minutes.) A public health campaign warning of the risks of the game, never. The networks will cry dry tears and take the billions in advertising money.
Paul V. Nunes
Rochester, NY
___________________________________
I've been saying it for years: modern helmets and pads ruined the game. Football is all about mass and gravity now – as opposed to speed, strength, and agility.
Take away the helmets and pads, and the players will be smaller, faster, and more creative – and players will stop using their heads as a weapon.
I won't go back to American football until the helmets and pads are gone. Until then I am very much enjoying MLS as my favorite sports distraction.
Best regards,
Michael Hardy
___________________________________
Gotta love the WaPo commentator: an associate professor of sociology from Skidmore.
Sounds more like the Babylon Bee!
Participation trophies all around here!
LOL
jimed
(Note: And there you have it, if it's uttered by an elite college professor it must be wrong.)
___________________________________
Hey Bob.
I gave up on NFL ages ago too. Only thing left that pisses me off about football is that it pushes back the start of CBS's 60 minutes on Sunday night on the East coast.
First world problems…
Rob Braide
___________________________________
I won't, I didn't, never watch violence as entertainment. Violent people start out stupid and get more so.
But then I'm not a dog person either.
Lou Judson
___________________________________
I'm a liberal - I get it - but I love football.
Beth Black
___________________________________
Ten years ago, a research study of athletes training for the Olympics asked them "If you could use something that would guarantee you a Gold medal in the Olympics but it would kill you in 5 years, would you use it?" Almost 50% said yes.
The combination of glory and money is a powerful seducer.
John Parikhal
___________________________________
I love the NYT but I think they are in the ivory tower on this one. My son attends the priciest private school in our city and football is booming there and the other private schools. Sure some parents hold their kids out but the kids of a whole lot of upper middle class and above families many of whom are democrats or independents are playing. Just the observations of one guy "on the ground."
That said we didn't let our older son play until middle school (a long way from when I started when I was 6) and he lost that 1st year to Covid so he just played his 3rd year and loves it. My younger son is 9 and is playing flag which the local youth tackle league started offering. The flag league fills up with waiting lists every season. They license NFL team names and jerseys.
Craig Davis
(Note: Anecdotal evidence, interesting, but irrelevant to the study/facts in the article.)
___________________________________
Unfortunately, the gambling industry and the remnants of network TV have too much invested in pro football. Colleges make too much money in it, let alone the NFL owners cabal.
The working man has too much invested in his Sundays. And the poor black kids need a vehicle out of the hood. And the QB lottery is worth playing for the select few because the money is blindingly huge.
My problem is that the athletes today are far less educated than the generation I grew up with - guys that actually were Student/Athletes - and as a result, with the stakes so high, play calling is by committee so the heroics that could truly inspire us are now scripted by the statisticians and the coordinators. And stupidity is rampant. And there's a ridiculously high percentage of players with felony problems. I remember when Fran Tarkenton was on the Giants and intentionally ran plays into the baseball infield hashmarks in Yankee Stadium so he could scratch out the next play in the dirt. He was a role model.
Jonathan Gross
___________________________________
Great piece. Just wanted to note that the C.T.E. issue extends beyond American football, notably with the sport that most of the world classifies as "football":
https://apnews.com/article/soccer-heading-brain-injuries-db83f3b292ee255326b6efdf01d8f9e8
And it doesn't end there:
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/young-amateur-athletes-at-risk-of-cte-study-finds/
Darrin Keene
___________________________________
People don't want to be told what to do by government, Bob.
J.E.
(Nowhere in the article is this referenced. This is knee-jerk conservatism.)
___________________________________
i really appreciate when you write about things like this, and share articles. i always click the links when you share something.
soccer has a growing cte problem as well. kids heading a ball that is as hard as a rock can cause issues.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37403989/#:~:text=Rule%20changes%20in%20heading%20duels,in%20(retired)%20soccer%20players.
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/soccer-cte-safety-1.6845197
and of course hockey has had this issue for as long as football...except in hockey, due to the league commissioner being a lawyer, they are in a state of denial.
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/19/1170802375/nhl-hockey-cte-brain-disease
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/henri-richard-cte-1.6876247
both of my kids take tae kwon do, and are on the way to a black belt. yet they have never sparred or had any contact to their heads. this was my choice and one that was wholly endorsed by the club they attend. i think the more parents find out about cte and brain injuries, the more they will not allow their kids to play these sports. i read that ny times article when it came out and it broke my heart.
thanks again.
keep up the great work.
happy holidays,
derek sumisu
___________________________________
Football is a gladiator sport, someone always dies, albeit not immediately. Common sense makes it hard to ignore. Have you ever been knocked out? Once was enough for me.
The problem is the sport is weaponized, helmets provide the illusion of safety but it is also a constant point of contact. It's happeing with soccer players who are heading balls constantly and with force.
Solution, take the helmets and pads all away. You are less likely to head butt someone without one. What does this look like as a sport then?? Exactly like Aussie Rules Football. The coolest game of all. No protective gear just a knee/elbow brace or two. Hardly any significant injuries; passing, catching, running and kicking all at the same time. Exciting and aLOT safer than USFootball.
Tesla, hands down best technology platform, but a friend gave me a spin in his new Porsche EV, the middles sized one and it was mindblowing the handling does rings around the Tesla, but second tier tech. Your choice.
John Brodey
___________________________________
I recently leased a Genesis GV60, and I'd recommend it to anyone—with a few caveats—who is in the market for a full EV. I drove the competing Teslas, Hyundais, Fords, Cadillacs, and Kias, and didn't like any of them nearly as well as the Genesis. I wouldn't have bought a Tesla at this point under any circumstances—my symbolic if meaningless vote against Elon Musk in the economic marketplace.
The GV60 is beautiful. It is fast. It is comfortable. As you know, Genesis uses an 800 volt charging architecture, making it more advanced than Tesla, at least in terms of charging times where it is twice as fast, if you can find a 350kW charger. It is stuffed full of the driver-assist kinds of technology that will yield safer-than-human self-driving cars somewhere down the road. The tech is such that the learning curve is steep, and the factory-provided manual is useless. (Why don't foreign companies hire fluent English speakers to translate their manuals?). But user forums, and YouTube come to the rescue.
The major downside is of course the charging network. The nascent and unreliable Electrify America charging network, owned by Volkswagen North America, has forced Hyundai and other non-Tesla manufacturers, to give buyers three free years of charging at their trough. Sadly, as the WSJ points out, finding operational chargers is a hit and miss proposition. One assumes the fault-haunted network will improve in 2024. In 2025, I expect the charging networks to agree to the Tesla standard, whereupon the range/charging anxiety will dissipate.
In the meantime, Genesis could do more. There are three trim levels. The lowest delivers the best range at 300+ miles. That's because it sits on 19" wheels and has only a single motor, meaning the car is rear-wheel drive. It's silly not to offer a top-trim version of the RWD long-range crossover. The top two trim levels currently employ two motors and 21" wheels, killing about a third of the lower model's range by going AWD.
I mention the trim level disparity in range because when you reviewed the GV60, they of course provided you with the top trim version, and this is a long-winded way of saying the range issue is resolvable by anyone will to spend less on the car. The charging issue, not so much.
Jon Sinton
___________________________________
Hi Bob. I'm the lead writer of the Washington Post project on youth football participation that you wrote about in today's newsletter. I also wrote two of the four geographical dispatches (Abilene, Tex. and Dayton, Ohio) that make up the rest of the project and that explore various aspects of the participation trendlines. (Two brilliant colleagues wrote the ones from Starkville, Miss. and Sacramento.)
Just wanted to say thanks for the shout-out. As it happens, I'm also a subscriber of your newsletter and a musician/songwriter who typically reads you to get insight into the music biz, perhaps the only industry more confounding than journalism.
Anyway, happy holidays and all that jazz. And thanks again for the kind words about our project.
Dave Sheinin
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The WaPo Football Article
"THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA'S FAVORITE SPORT - How race, politics, culture and money are shaping which kids abandon tackle football -- and which keep risking its toll."
Free link: https://wapo.st/3GQhcmx
(You must at least scan this article, look at the charts, you must.)
Do you feel guilty when you watch football?
I certainly do, which is why I don't watch anymore. At all. Except for the Super Bowl, a national holiday.
The CTE, i.e. brain injury, story has been gaining traction for decades now. And this fall the story has been about how you don't have to play in the pros to be affected.
"They Started Playing Football as Young as 6 - They Died in Their Teens and Twenties With C.T.E."
Free link: https://tinyurl.com/59v2wpmm
My goal is not to guilt you. My goal here is awareness.
Football has now been divided along political and racial lines. If you're a conservative, you might ask what the hell I'm talking about. If you're Black, you might say the economic opportunities are too attractive. If you're liberal and white you might watch, but you don't want your kids playing tackle football.
We believe things are forever. And then social mores change and they are not. Will people be watching tackle football on TV in 2100? Not unless it's robots. But the question becomes when the NFL will falter and die before that, because the public just can't stomach the injuries these men sustain while entertaining us.
Pretty ugly if you think about it. The ignorant and disadvantaged are putting their lives at risk, literally, so we can watch. At what point do viewers say NO MAS!
They keep on trying to make tackle football safer, but it hasn't worked, not in any significant way. The NFL is pushing flag football, but I don't see tens of thousands showing up to watch that.
The disconnect is becoming too great. It has become harder and harder to rationalize playing football, it's only a matter of time before it becomes harder and harder to rationalize watching football.
Too many abhor the future, lobby against it. The story of the last month or so is the slowdown in the acquisition of electric cars. This is true. And if you don't own a Tesla good luck charging on the road. Joanna Stern did an excellent story on this.
"How Bad Are Public EV Chargers? I Visited Over 120 to Find Out. - Los Angeles County has more public electric-vehicle fast chargers than any other in the country. WSJ's Joanna Stern hit up 30 charging locations in a Rivian R1T and ran into problems at 40% of them. Here's what's being done to fix the charging mess."
https://tinyurl.com/smzn8cpk
Bottom line, drive a Tesla. (Then again do you want to support Elon Musk? There's a good chance not.) Furthermore, every other manufacturer is behind Tesla when it comes to software, which is the essence of electric cars. The competitor might have a shiny exterior, but it's MS-DOS in a Windows world. Saturday Dan Neil said the new Lotus is the first car he's driven that's on a par with Tesla when it comes to software.
And in truth seemingly every car manufacturer is switching to the Tesla charging system, which is plentiful and easy to use.
But the bottom line here is despite the bad news, electric cars are here to stay, they're the future, they're going to dominate, it's just a matter of when.
And tackle football is time-stamped, it's just a matter of when it dies.
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Free link: https://wapo.st/3GQhcmx
(You must at least scan this article, look at the charts, you must.)
Do you feel guilty when you watch football?
I certainly do, which is why I don't watch anymore. At all. Except for the Super Bowl, a national holiday.
The CTE, i.e. brain injury, story has been gaining traction for decades now. And this fall the story has been about how you don't have to play in the pros to be affected.
"They Started Playing Football as Young as 6 - They Died in Their Teens and Twenties With C.T.E."
Free link: https://tinyurl.com/59v2wpmm
My goal is not to guilt you. My goal here is awareness.
Football has now been divided along political and racial lines. If you're a conservative, you might ask what the hell I'm talking about. If you're Black, you might say the economic opportunities are too attractive. If you're liberal and white you might watch, but you don't want your kids playing tackle football.
We believe things are forever. And then social mores change and they are not. Will people be watching tackle football on TV in 2100? Not unless it's robots. But the question becomes when the NFL will falter and die before that, because the public just can't stomach the injuries these men sustain while entertaining us.
Pretty ugly if you think about it. The ignorant and disadvantaged are putting their lives at risk, literally, so we can watch. At what point do viewers say NO MAS!
They keep on trying to make tackle football safer, but it hasn't worked, not in any significant way. The NFL is pushing flag football, but I don't see tens of thousands showing up to watch that.
The disconnect is becoming too great. It has become harder and harder to rationalize playing football, it's only a matter of time before it becomes harder and harder to rationalize watching football.
Too many abhor the future, lobby against it. The story of the last month or so is the slowdown in the acquisition of electric cars. This is true. And if you don't own a Tesla good luck charging on the road. Joanna Stern did an excellent story on this.
"How Bad Are Public EV Chargers? I Visited Over 120 to Find Out. - Los Angeles County has more public electric-vehicle fast chargers than any other in the country. WSJ's Joanna Stern hit up 30 charging locations in a Rivian R1T and ran into problems at 40% of them. Here's what's being done to fix the charging mess."
https://tinyurl.com/smzn8cpk
Bottom line, drive a Tesla. (Then again do you want to support Elon Musk? There's a good chance not.) Furthermore, every other manufacturer is behind Tesla when it comes to software, which is the essence of electric cars. The competitor might have a shiny exterior, but it's MS-DOS in a Windows world. Saturday Dan Neil said the new Lotus is the first car he's driven that's on a par with Tesla when it comes to software.
And in truth seemingly every car manufacturer is switching to the Tesla charging system, which is plentiful and easy to use.
But the bottom line here is despite the bad news, electric cars are here to stay, they're the future, they're going to dominate, it's just a matter of when.
And tackle football is time-stamped, it's just a matter of when it dies.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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