"'When I look at the media landscape right now, the people who are going independent, whether it's podcasting or streaming, that seems to be where the action is,' he said Tuesday."
https://shorturl.at/13PRo
Is this like refusing to sign with a major label?
The election taught the news business that not only was it out of touch, it had lost control of the viewing/reading public. People had detached and gone to podcasts and social media.
TV is produced. Very professional. Great sets, great makeup, and always short-form. Even long-form is short-form. "60 Minutes" will give you twelve minutes, Joe Rogan will give you HOURS! Sure, we all want to graze for the headlines, but if we want to go deeper...
Top Forty and the Spotify Top 50 are like grazing for headlines. Only it's worse in the music business, BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE DON'T CHECK THEM OUT WHATSOEVER!
Think about that, your primary product is ignored by most of the available customers.
Now this works if you're Mercedes-Benz. As a matter of fact, MBZ has gone further upscale, they're removing their cheapest offerings and focusing on the profit of expensive models.
We can't do this in music, where every song is worth essentially the same.
But is Top Forty CNN?
Absolutely. The major labels devote an inordinate amount of money and time on terrestrial radio. This is what they know. It reaches the most people. But that audience continues to drop. The ratings for CNN, MSNBC and even Fox are anemic. But online?
A million people watching a cable news channel is about average. By October 29th, Joe Rogan's podcast with Trump had 38 million views. Apples and oranges. Even online influencers, constantly derided by the mainstream media, reach many more people than the old guard does.
But what are people consuming?
Well, as stated above, longform. People want to sink their teeth in. You may be focusing on the hit single, but never has the hit single meant less.
Let me explain. A hit single is always a driver. But if there's not a lot of material underneath, a story, people are not going to be invested, they're going to move on. What does it take to get people invested?
So the major labels sell hip-hop and pop. And let's be clear, there's a huge audience for those. But the biggest act in recorded music today is in country, Morgan Wallen. And seemingly every act of stature wants in on that world, from Post Malone to Beyoncé. What is going on in the country world?
Authenticity. Credibility.
Oh, don't tell me about beers and trucks and... Of course there's a lot of country music that's a trifle. But almost all of it is relatable. It's not I'm richer than you living a better lifestyle, let me tell you about it. It's earthier. Rootsier.
Is this what the public really wants? Are the major labels delusional?
Now one of the creators of magic in podcasts is they're off-the-cuff, unedited, the exact opposite ethos of the major label work, which is rewritten and remixed to death. Good luck even finding a mistake. But it turns out mistakes are not the turnoff the industry believes, mistakes make you human, other people love vulnerability.
Harris was afraid to commit a faux pas. She was scripted, hard to penetrate. Trump was all over the map, lyin', cheatin', hurtin'...and the people loved it! They overlooked the flaws and saw someone living in the moment, just like them. Making mistakes just like them. They could relate.
Don't bark back. Trump won.
I'm not saying no one wants hip-hop and pop, I'm not saying no one wanted Harris, but I am saying the major labels' focus is wrong.
But if they change the focus...
They're lost. So they keep doing what they do, over and over again.
It's not like the signposts are not there. Zach Bryan sold out arenas and could have sold out stadiums BEFORE HE HAD A SPOTIFY TOP 50 HIT! How did people find him?
Obviously not via the usual avenues. The word was spread by the public. Which is hard to manipulate. So what you need is something that spreads, and me-too doesn't spread.
Now let's be clear, Bryan is his own worst enemy and has been recently blowing himself up, in a bad way, but the paradigm sustains.
Chris Stapleton... Shows that you don't have to be a teenager to succeed. You don't have to look like a movie star. It's about what you hear as opposed to see.
Music did not move the needle whatsoever for Harris. Why? Because nobody singing was credible. Or they'd lost their credibility along the way. They were seen as icons, not relatable people. And in the internet world we're all in it together. Have airs, tell us what to do, and people will tear you down and not believe.
Now will Chris Wallace be able to make it in the podcast/streaming world?
Well, unlike a good musician, he doesn't know who his fans are, he has no mailing list, data is everything.
And he's 77 and appeals to an aged demo, the average age of a cable news viewer is over 65. Are these the digitally-savvy people?
Well, you'd be surprised how many boomers listen to podcasts. And everybody's always looking for something new and good. The dirty little secret is most podcasts suck. Two or more people bloviating about their personal lives. Where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar.
So if you're good...
But Wallace knows it's about longform. The quick hit does not bond you to people anymore.
And Tucker Carlson does not get as much ink as he used to when he was on Fox, but he has finally figured out a way to reach a substantial audience online, to become part of the conversation.
And it's no longer about the chart anyway. Yes, the three big cable news networks arguing over ratings is akin to the moribund major labels manipulating the "Billboard" chart. As if anybody but the act itself cares what is number one. How are people even going to find out, it's printed in the newspaper, but they don't read the newspaper! They really only care about chart position when their favorite act implores them to buy excess vinyl or files to make them number one, talk about a spiral to the bottom, screwing your fans.
Wallace is jumping into the abyss, with no safety net. As the story has played out today, some people say he was going to lose his job in a cutback, but he jumped before he was pushed. The music industry used to jump all the time, it's been staid since...
Certainly the nineties. Formulaic divas and formulaic hip-hop.
But the story of the past few years is indies. Oftentimes built live. The recordings are nearly superfluous.
How do we regain the power of music as the foremost art form?
Oh, let's be clear, there's a music business. But if you want to know which way the wind blows, you're not going to listen to a record. That's not where the people are at. And Kendrick dissed Drake and Questlove said it was the end of hip-hop, an insular battle that is ultimately meaningless.
Now in truth people are jumping, taking risks, doing something different, all the time, as we sit here. It's just that one day you wake up and see that they control your business, that they have stolen it while you're asleep.
And that's a good thing, it reinvigorates the industry.
Now in truth the election illustrated that America is a vast country where people get their news and information from a cornucopia of outlets and there is truly no center.
There is no center in music either. Like I said, number one really doesn't matter.
And that's a good thing.
Want to win in the new world?
Be you, authentic. Don't look at what other people are doing, speak from your heart. Being able to play your instrument helps. And being able to write songs with melody and changes does too. If your audience can sing along, that goes a long way to embedding you in their heart. Sure there are songs that are great to dance to, but most of them are inherently dispensable. Hell, the music is just the grease at an EDM show.
We have to sell the music as paramount.
And that needs a refocus, a redirection.
By the big boys (and girls!)
The little ones are already doing it.
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Tuesday 12 November 2024
Bad Monkey
Trailer: https://t.ly/PY3QH
Can there be too much Vince Vaughn?
After watching "Bad Monkey" you'll think so. You know, the guy with the quips, the man we first saw and adored in "Swingers." I love Vaughn, and I have not read the book, but I'd be stunned if the role wasn't tailored for him.
As for the book... It was written by Carl Hiaasen, who is not known for high brow material. And that's an issue throughout the series, the tone. Or maybe it's just that the tone is continually flippant, which makes it harder to engage and believe. It's a tall tale, and you're required to take it that way. Which is ultimately unfortunate, because we want to dig deep into the gritty side, when Vaughn as Andrew Yancy is employing all of his detective skills.
So this is a Florida novel. And I'll tell you, they make Florida appealing, in that the Keys are off the grid, their own state of mind. Speaking of which...
Steve Barnett hipped me to this Yeti sponsored short film about Key West:
"All That Is Sacred": https://t.ly/2BCWK
Does anybody remember Tom McGuane, who is still alive in Montana? Well, he was one of the hippest, edgiest writers back in the seventies, and he and his buddies ended up in Key West with Richard Brautigan and Jimmy Buffett and...
Back when writing the Great American Novel was still a goal, before income inequality made authors look like chumps, at best living off their jobs as teachers.
Anyway, they're all drinkin' and druggin' and fishin' and... If you were alive in the seventies, you'll recognize the mood, the groove, if you're a youngster today, it will seem totally foreign. Reminded me of being a ski bum in Salt Lake. Only in this case, these guys lived to fish. Check it out.
So I'm not talking about the Florida of Miami, but the coroner Rosa, does her work there. Rosa is played by Natalie Martinez, who's got an arm's length of credits but was unfamiliar to me. She's great, although I'm not quite sure I bought her as an MD. And she's reluctant to get involved with Yancy, the noted bad boy...
And Yancy is the kind of guy who is driven by the goal, forget the rules. He sinks his teeth into something and won't let go.
As a result, he's constantly getting demoted/losing his job.
But the focus of the story is the shenanigans of Meredith Hagner and Rob Delaney as Eve and Nick Stripling, a grifter couple who keeps testing limits, getting in deeper, with Eve expressing no guilt.
Yes, Eve calls the shots.
And, of course, there's Jodie Turner-Smith as the Dragon Queen. She almost makes the show worthwhile all by herself. She's confident, she's manipulative, you feel her power, and are concerned with her wrath.
So there are twists and turns and by the end of ten episodes I won't quite say you're exhausted, but this is not one of those series where you want more. There's just a twist or two too much. All of which makes it harder to believe. It's not Keystone Cops territory, but you're watching, you're not involved.
Not that the series can't be fixed. The Vaughnisms can be toned down. And his dad, played by Scott Glenn, is fantastic. Wisdom sans attitude, someone who's seen it all and is just trying to enjoy the time he has left.
And a few less pieces of the puzzle would be nice. It's almost like hellzapoppin'.
Not that I want to steer you away from "Bad Monkey," I just want to warn you.
This show got a lot of buzz when Apple released the first episode in August. In the ensuing months it has come down that people either loved it or hated it, or more definitively were angry that it didn't deliver just a bit more, that it stayed with the light tone.
And the funny thing is this series is driven by narration, which is rare, but is also the driver of the other Apple TV series I just wrote about, "Disciple." Adds a level of detachment. That can work, but can be overdone.
So the truth is life is meaningless, we're all looking for satisfaction, isn't that what the Stones couldn't find? And everybody in "Bad Monkey" is looking for their own satisfaction. Rosa is unfulfilled by her work and wants a relationship. Her sister wants to stop being subservient to Heather with the Weather. Sonny and the FBI just want to detach.
But ultimately "Bad Monkey" is just a ride.
When it could have been more.
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Can there be too much Vince Vaughn?
After watching "Bad Monkey" you'll think so. You know, the guy with the quips, the man we first saw and adored in "Swingers." I love Vaughn, and I have not read the book, but I'd be stunned if the role wasn't tailored for him.
As for the book... It was written by Carl Hiaasen, who is not known for high brow material. And that's an issue throughout the series, the tone. Or maybe it's just that the tone is continually flippant, which makes it harder to engage and believe. It's a tall tale, and you're required to take it that way. Which is ultimately unfortunate, because we want to dig deep into the gritty side, when Vaughn as Andrew Yancy is employing all of his detective skills.
So this is a Florida novel. And I'll tell you, they make Florida appealing, in that the Keys are off the grid, their own state of mind. Speaking of which...
Steve Barnett hipped me to this Yeti sponsored short film about Key West:
"All That Is Sacred": https://t.ly/2BCWK
Does anybody remember Tom McGuane, who is still alive in Montana? Well, he was one of the hippest, edgiest writers back in the seventies, and he and his buddies ended up in Key West with Richard Brautigan and Jimmy Buffett and...
Back when writing the Great American Novel was still a goal, before income inequality made authors look like chumps, at best living off their jobs as teachers.
Anyway, they're all drinkin' and druggin' and fishin' and... If you were alive in the seventies, you'll recognize the mood, the groove, if you're a youngster today, it will seem totally foreign. Reminded me of being a ski bum in Salt Lake. Only in this case, these guys lived to fish. Check it out.
So I'm not talking about the Florida of Miami, but the coroner Rosa, does her work there. Rosa is played by Natalie Martinez, who's got an arm's length of credits but was unfamiliar to me. She's great, although I'm not quite sure I bought her as an MD. And she's reluctant to get involved with Yancy, the noted bad boy...
And Yancy is the kind of guy who is driven by the goal, forget the rules. He sinks his teeth into something and won't let go.
As a result, he's constantly getting demoted/losing his job.
But the focus of the story is the shenanigans of Meredith Hagner and Rob Delaney as Eve and Nick Stripling, a grifter couple who keeps testing limits, getting in deeper, with Eve expressing no guilt.
Yes, Eve calls the shots.
And, of course, there's Jodie Turner-Smith as the Dragon Queen. She almost makes the show worthwhile all by herself. She's confident, she's manipulative, you feel her power, and are concerned with her wrath.
So there are twists and turns and by the end of ten episodes I won't quite say you're exhausted, but this is not one of those series where you want more. There's just a twist or two too much. All of which makes it harder to believe. It's not Keystone Cops territory, but you're watching, you're not involved.
Not that the series can't be fixed. The Vaughnisms can be toned down. And his dad, played by Scott Glenn, is fantastic. Wisdom sans attitude, someone who's seen it all and is just trying to enjoy the time he has left.
And a few less pieces of the puzzle would be nice. It's almost like hellzapoppin'.
Not that I want to steer you away from "Bad Monkey," I just want to warn you.
This show got a lot of buzz when Apple released the first episode in August. In the ensuing months it has come down that people either loved it or hated it, or more definitively were angry that it didn't deliver just a bit more, that it stayed with the light tone.
And the funny thing is this series is driven by narration, which is rare, but is also the driver of the other Apple TV series I just wrote about, "Disciple." Adds a level of detachment. That can work, but can be overdone.
So the truth is life is meaningless, we're all looking for satisfaction, isn't that what the Stones couldn't find? And everybody in "Bad Monkey" is looking for their own satisfaction. Rosa is unfulfilled by her work and wants a relationship. Her sister wants to stop being subservient to Heather with the Weather. Sonny and the FBI just want to detach.
But ultimately "Bad Monkey" is just a ride.
When it could have been more.
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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Monday 11 November 2024
The Divorce
https://t.ly/zpquh
I'm trying to figure out where I found this book.
I always start my research on Amazon, because if reviews are good, they print them, and if there are no reviews by notable publications...
That's usually a bad sign.
But I went to Amazon and found none of those famous reviews. Which flummoxed me. Why did I reserve "The Divorce" at the library?
I mostly use three sources to find new books: "The New York Times," Ron Charles's weekly newsletter from "The Washington Post," and the recommendations in the magazine "The Week" (which is uber-expensive, but I highly recommend, it's the "Time"/"Newsweek" of yore you're looking for, the previous week's news, in this case with no political slant).
So I turn to Google and I find that the "Times" did review "The Divorce," and trashed it.
Hmm...
So I'd started reading "The Divorce" and stopped. Which is rare. Usually I quit right away or power through. I skipped to a book called "Entitlement," and one of the reasons I'm writing about both of these books is they create a mood, a world. The internet is all about in-your-face, as is much popular music these days. "Entitlement" is about a young thirtysomething who leaves teaching and starts working for the foundation of a billionaire. I guess that's something we talk about today, but this guy didn't make his money in tech. And the elder gentleman becomes enamored of his young hire and...
The young hire becomes enamored of the philosophy he espouses. Which is basically the world is your oyster, and you've got to go for it, you're entitled, just reach out and grab it.
So, at first you think it's almost a self-help book, and at some points you question the judgment of the main character, the young woman, but should you be happy with your status in life or are you too entitled to have a life of riches? And what rules are you willing to bend to get there?
At times " Entitlement" is riveting, but just when you're hooked, it gets a bit boring.
"The Divorce" doesn't exactly start out boring, but rather pedestrian, and then...
I wasn't going to go back to "The Divorce" but it was the emotion Felice conveyed when she was done. I don't remember the exact words, but they were along the line of being heavy, weighty, sitting with you, and weird...in that everything just doesn't work out as planned, that you've got to sit with your emotions, something seemingly all human beings wish to avoid.
So, "The Divorce" is set in Sweden. It's translated from the Swedish, and I can't say the translator did such a great job. It's a bit simple, it's a bit herky-jerky. Not hard to read, but seemingly surface.
And then there are the Swedish names. They're ultimately off-putting. U.S. locations could have been employed and nothing would have been lost.
But when the book flips, 119 pages in... From there on you cannot put it down. Not that it's a tome, "The Divorce" is 335 pages long. It's easily read, but should you read it?
Probably not if you're a young person. You have to have experienced a few rodeos to get it, been around the block, had at least one long live-in relationship, never mind marriage.
Yes, the book is focused on a divorce. What stimulates it?
Well, the main character Niklas is a doctor. Living in the States we see all MD's as wealthy. But Niklas is not. Sure, his family is living well, but also beyond their means. Don't get the wrong idea, they're not flying private, they have only one automobile, a Volvo, they're living like upper middle class professionals.
Which Niklas is but Bea is not. She gave up her education and is now working for the Red Cross as a web developer.
So Niklas feels the financial pressure, but what are they supposed to do?
So are you locked into your life and not exactly happy about it?
I hear from these people all the time, I encountered them at my college reunion. They lived by seventies values, they became doctors and lawyers and they'd like a do-over, something more fulfilling, but you don't get that option.
It's even worse for today's generation. Because if you don't graduate from college and take the professional track...good luck making ends meet. Sure, you could become a star in music, but very few get to do that. And influencers? It's very hard to have a sustained career.
So what does it take you to jump the track. Are you capable of jumping the track?
And what carnage will you leave behind.
It could be as simple as disappointing your parents. They've invested in you, they have an idea of you, but really you're someone different.
But if you have a family, responsibilities...
Who's going to pay the bills if you switch careers?
And there's fallout from breakups. Financial. Filial...
I remember the first of my parents' friends who got divorced. It may be hard to believe, but in the sixties, in the suburbs, divorce was uncommon. It was only at the end of that decade and then in the seventies, that divorce became de rigueur.
And maybe that's just the point. No one ever talks about the fallout of a divorce. Sure, they talk about the low-hanging fruit, but what about the everyday adjustments? Do you have to move to a worse neighborhood, can you afford what you used to, are your friends still your friends or..?
So that couple got divorced. It was scandalous. And my parents and others took the side of the wife, after all the husband left her. But after ultimately relenting and meeting with the husband and his new paramour, they realized he was the energy, he was their friend, and the wife...she was boring.
I don't remember encountering the wife ever again.
Judge all you want, this is reality.
So you break up...
In California, you have all these people who are friends with their exes. I can't understand that, whether I left or they did. Let's see, you shared a bed, knew everything about each other and now it's a casual relationship, intermittent with a bit of distance? Unfathomable to me.
Now if you live in a small community, you might have to worry about running into your ex. Hell, even in a large city. It's amazing how that works, at a gig, in the grocery store, you'll run into them, kinda like Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne."
Most people end up splitting not only the money and the real estate, but the friends and certainly the relatives. I've got a friend whose live-in girlfriend worked for his father. When they broke up she continued to come by his parents' house, he'd run into her there. He told his parents she could still work for them, but she could no longer come to the house. Sounds harsh only if you've never experienced a deep breakup.
So...
"The Divorce" is going to ring certain bells in your head. Of your life. You're reading about the characters yet somehow your brain is stimulated, thinking about all these episodes from the past.
"The Divorce" is not the kind of book you discuss with others, it's not a book group choice. It's personal. Sure, there's story, but the underlying emotions are what's key.
Let me get this down straight. I'm not telling everybody to read "The Divorce." But if there's something in the foregoing that resonates, check it out. That's what I do with the reviews in the publications mentioned above. I don't read every word, just a few, and I get a vibe.
Have you ever hurt? Have you ever wondered how you ended up where you are? That's what "The Divorce" explores.
And it wasn't until the very end that I discovered the author, Moa Herngren, was the cocreator and writer of "Bonus Family," one of my favorite streaming series ever. I've written about it twice:
"Bonus Family": https://t.ly/C448X
"Bonus Family Season 4": https://t.ly/c4o5b
Ultimately "Bonus Family" falters in the end, with the birth of the Down syndrome baby, and the film addendum is superfluous, but before that...
In Sweden a blended family is a bonus family. Same concept, different term. In other words, you get divorced and remarried and suddenly you've got all the kids.
Anyway, seemingly every person I've spoken to about "Bonus Family" couldn't finish it, could barely even get past the beginning, because they found it too painful.
Let's be clear, "Bonus Family" is not super-heavy, it's got a lot of light moments, comedy, but people who've been divorced who have kids, no matter how long ago it was, the wound is still too fresh. They do their best to repress thoughts about their choices, the aftermath, the effect upon the children, never mind themselves.
But "Bonus Family" is one of my favorite streaming series period. And I don't have any kids. But maybe that's why.
However, if you have been divorced, especially with kids, you'll find "The Divorce" somewhat soothing, because it's good to know other people have gone through what you have, have thought the same thoughts, felt the same way.
So...
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I'm trying to figure out where I found this book.
I always start my research on Amazon, because if reviews are good, they print them, and if there are no reviews by notable publications...
That's usually a bad sign.
But I went to Amazon and found none of those famous reviews. Which flummoxed me. Why did I reserve "The Divorce" at the library?
I mostly use three sources to find new books: "The New York Times," Ron Charles's weekly newsletter from "The Washington Post," and the recommendations in the magazine "The Week" (which is uber-expensive, but I highly recommend, it's the "Time"/"Newsweek" of yore you're looking for, the previous week's news, in this case with no political slant).
So I turn to Google and I find that the "Times" did review "The Divorce," and trashed it.
Hmm...
So I'd started reading "The Divorce" and stopped. Which is rare. Usually I quit right away or power through. I skipped to a book called "Entitlement," and one of the reasons I'm writing about both of these books is they create a mood, a world. The internet is all about in-your-face, as is much popular music these days. "Entitlement" is about a young thirtysomething who leaves teaching and starts working for the foundation of a billionaire. I guess that's something we talk about today, but this guy didn't make his money in tech. And the elder gentleman becomes enamored of his young hire and...
The young hire becomes enamored of the philosophy he espouses. Which is basically the world is your oyster, and you've got to go for it, you're entitled, just reach out and grab it.
So, at first you think it's almost a self-help book, and at some points you question the judgment of the main character, the young woman, but should you be happy with your status in life or are you too entitled to have a life of riches? And what rules are you willing to bend to get there?
At times " Entitlement" is riveting, but just when you're hooked, it gets a bit boring.
"The Divorce" doesn't exactly start out boring, but rather pedestrian, and then...
I wasn't going to go back to "The Divorce" but it was the emotion Felice conveyed when she was done. I don't remember the exact words, but they were along the line of being heavy, weighty, sitting with you, and weird...in that everything just doesn't work out as planned, that you've got to sit with your emotions, something seemingly all human beings wish to avoid.
So, "The Divorce" is set in Sweden. It's translated from the Swedish, and I can't say the translator did such a great job. It's a bit simple, it's a bit herky-jerky. Not hard to read, but seemingly surface.
And then there are the Swedish names. They're ultimately off-putting. U.S. locations could have been employed and nothing would have been lost.
But when the book flips, 119 pages in... From there on you cannot put it down. Not that it's a tome, "The Divorce" is 335 pages long. It's easily read, but should you read it?
Probably not if you're a young person. You have to have experienced a few rodeos to get it, been around the block, had at least one long live-in relationship, never mind marriage.
Yes, the book is focused on a divorce. What stimulates it?
Well, the main character Niklas is a doctor. Living in the States we see all MD's as wealthy. But Niklas is not. Sure, his family is living well, but also beyond their means. Don't get the wrong idea, they're not flying private, they have only one automobile, a Volvo, they're living like upper middle class professionals.
Which Niklas is but Bea is not. She gave up her education and is now working for the Red Cross as a web developer.
So Niklas feels the financial pressure, but what are they supposed to do?
So are you locked into your life and not exactly happy about it?
I hear from these people all the time, I encountered them at my college reunion. They lived by seventies values, they became doctors and lawyers and they'd like a do-over, something more fulfilling, but you don't get that option.
It's even worse for today's generation. Because if you don't graduate from college and take the professional track...good luck making ends meet. Sure, you could become a star in music, but very few get to do that. And influencers? It's very hard to have a sustained career.
So what does it take you to jump the track. Are you capable of jumping the track?
And what carnage will you leave behind.
It could be as simple as disappointing your parents. They've invested in you, they have an idea of you, but really you're someone different.
But if you have a family, responsibilities...
Who's going to pay the bills if you switch careers?
And there's fallout from breakups. Financial. Filial...
I remember the first of my parents' friends who got divorced. It may be hard to believe, but in the sixties, in the suburbs, divorce was uncommon. It was only at the end of that decade and then in the seventies, that divorce became de rigueur.
And maybe that's just the point. No one ever talks about the fallout of a divorce. Sure, they talk about the low-hanging fruit, but what about the everyday adjustments? Do you have to move to a worse neighborhood, can you afford what you used to, are your friends still your friends or..?
So that couple got divorced. It was scandalous. And my parents and others took the side of the wife, after all the husband left her. But after ultimately relenting and meeting with the husband and his new paramour, they realized he was the energy, he was their friend, and the wife...she was boring.
I don't remember encountering the wife ever again.
Judge all you want, this is reality.
So you break up...
In California, you have all these people who are friends with their exes. I can't understand that, whether I left or they did. Let's see, you shared a bed, knew everything about each other and now it's a casual relationship, intermittent with a bit of distance? Unfathomable to me.
Now if you live in a small community, you might have to worry about running into your ex. Hell, even in a large city. It's amazing how that works, at a gig, in the grocery store, you'll run into them, kinda like Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne."
Most people end up splitting not only the money and the real estate, but the friends and certainly the relatives. I've got a friend whose live-in girlfriend worked for his father. When they broke up she continued to come by his parents' house, he'd run into her there. He told his parents she could still work for them, but she could no longer come to the house. Sounds harsh only if you've never experienced a deep breakup.
So...
"The Divorce" is going to ring certain bells in your head. Of your life. You're reading about the characters yet somehow your brain is stimulated, thinking about all these episodes from the past.
"The Divorce" is not the kind of book you discuss with others, it's not a book group choice. It's personal. Sure, there's story, but the underlying emotions are what's key.
Let me get this down straight. I'm not telling everybody to read "The Divorce." But if there's something in the foregoing that resonates, check it out. That's what I do with the reviews in the publications mentioned above. I don't read every word, just a few, and I get a vibe.
Have you ever hurt? Have you ever wondered how you ended up where you are? That's what "The Divorce" explores.
And it wasn't until the very end that I discovered the author, Moa Herngren, was the cocreator and writer of "Bonus Family," one of my favorite streaming series ever. I've written about it twice:
"Bonus Family": https://t.ly/C448X
"Bonus Family Season 4": https://t.ly/c4o5b
Ultimately "Bonus Family" falters in the end, with the birth of the Down syndrome baby, and the film addendum is superfluous, but before that...
In Sweden a blended family is a bonus family. Same concept, different term. In other words, you get divorced and remarried and suddenly you've got all the kids.
Anyway, seemingly every person I've spoken to about "Bonus Family" couldn't finish it, could barely even get past the beginning, because they found it too painful.
Let's be clear, "Bonus Family" is not super-heavy, it's got a lot of light moments, comedy, but people who've been divorced who have kids, no matter how long ago it was, the wound is still too fresh. They do their best to repress thoughts about their choices, the aftermath, the effect upon the children, never mind themselves.
But "Bonus Family" is one of my favorite streaming series period. And I don't have any kids. But maybe that's why.
However, if you have been divorced, especially with kids, you'll find "The Divorce" somewhat soothing, because it's good to know other people have gone through what you have, have thought the same thoughts, felt the same way.
So...
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Sunday 10 November 2024
My Old Ass
The studios don't make movies like this anymore.
Then again, they were never blockbusters. They'd return their low budgets and hopefully some profits, but they wouldn't set the world on fire, but they might stay in your heart forever.
I'm not talking about AIP or New World. Those indies specialized in something grittier, edgier, delivering what the studios were afraid to, or pooh-poohed. Whereas "My Old Ass" tests no limits, contains no titillation, other than the basic concept, it's wholly believable.
Yes, young Elliott converses with old Elliott as a result of taking mushrooms. And old Elliott is played by Aubrey Plaza, who has become one of our biggest movie stars, not by looks, by appearances in TMZ, but by sheer personality and acting chops. I'm sure you've seen some of Aubrey's appearances on late night TV. If not, you're in for a treat. She's sly, she's funny, she evidences intelligence, this is a movie star.
Not that Aubrey/Elliott has that much screen time, although her voice is heard throughout the picture.
Which is just shy of an hour and a half long. Quite a change in an era where every director considers themselves an auteur, needing hours to sell their message, if there really is one at all.
And there is a message in "My Old Ass." And it's kind of trite. And it's not really revealed until the end. But ultimately you're satisfied.
Bottom line, ignorance is for the youth. When you know little you take chances, you don't worry about consequences, you're all in, whereas when you get older and have experienced the let-downs and disappointments in life you become gun-shy. Knowing too much works to your disadvantage.
Oh, there's one extra twist. Which makes the message less pedestrian. Let's just say the experiences you have earlier in your life, the meaning they had for you, the private emotions... They never leave.
So "My Old Ass" got good reviews, but if you think this pic is going to draw people to the theatre, you'll be disappointed to find out that it has only grossed $5.4 million domestically, and only $0.3 million in the rest of the world, not even half of what Amazon paid for the flick at Sundance, $15 million.
But today the action is all in streaming television. And I prefer series, because of the depth, but "My Old Ass" works as a movie, because it's more about vibe than story, which is what a film usually conveys better than a multi-episodic production.
So it's set in the lake country of Canada, where I've never been but so many of my Canadian friends retreat in the summer. Not that different from New England lake country, but I haven't been there recently either.
It's the middle of nowhere, and in less than a month, young Elliott, played so naturally by fresh-faced Maisy Stella, will decamp for Toronto, for the U of T.
She's itching to leave, but knows she can always return.
Or is that not the way life works. What you think is still available...is it ultimately gone?
And she's young and brassy and confident but then she encounters old Elliott, Aubrey Plaza, who is not as excited at the age of 39 and young Elliott is confused, but ultimately decides to take Aubrey/Elliott's counsel.
So...
Nothing could be more different from what we've been concerned with in the world this past week. Sure, there are smartphones, but no politics, and no judgment of the internet.
But there are questions of friendship and sexuality and...
I saw that "My Old Ass" had finally made it to Prime, sooner than usual after debuting in the theatre, while I still remembered the reviews, which were good. And I turned it on...
And didn't want to turn it off.
And in this world of so many choices, that is rare.
It's billed as sci-fi, but if you're thinking of lasers and futuristic landscapes, don't bother. Would I say it's a chick flick? Not exactly. It's not gooey, although there is passion, and it's very realistic.
This is the life we all live, which we don't see in the news. This is the soul fulfillment we're looking for.
I don't want to overhype it. "My Old Ass" is not deserving of an Oscar (although more people will see it than many films that do win Academy Awards), but it hits a note. Not nostalgia. It's not pulling at your heartstrings. It somehow encapsulates regular life, which we're living 24/7, and that's why it resonated with me.
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Then again, they were never blockbusters. They'd return their low budgets and hopefully some profits, but they wouldn't set the world on fire, but they might stay in your heart forever.
I'm not talking about AIP or New World. Those indies specialized in something grittier, edgier, delivering what the studios were afraid to, or pooh-poohed. Whereas "My Old Ass" tests no limits, contains no titillation, other than the basic concept, it's wholly believable.
Yes, young Elliott converses with old Elliott as a result of taking mushrooms. And old Elliott is played by Aubrey Plaza, who has become one of our biggest movie stars, not by looks, by appearances in TMZ, but by sheer personality and acting chops. I'm sure you've seen some of Aubrey's appearances on late night TV. If not, you're in for a treat. She's sly, she's funny, she evidences intelligence, this is a movie star.
Not that Aubrey/Elliott has that much screen time, although her voice is heard throughout the picture.
Which is just shy of an hour and a half long. Quite a change in an era where every director considers themselves an auteur, needing hours to sell their message, if there really is one at all.
And there is a message in "My Old Ass." And it's kind of trite. And it's not really revealed until the end. But ultimately you're satisfied.
Bottom line, ignorance is for the youth. When you know little you take chances, you don't worry about consequences, you're all in, whereas when you get older and have experienced the let-downs and disappointments in life you become gun-shy. Knowing too much works to your disadvantage.
Oh, there's one extra twist. Which makes the message less pedestrian. Let's just say the experiences you have earlier in your life, the meaning they had for you, the private emotions... They never leave.
So "My Old Ass" got good reviews, but if you think this pic is going to draw people to the theatre, you'll be disappointed to find out that it has only grossed $5.4 million domestically, and only $0.3 million in the rest of the world, not even half of what Amazon paid for the flick at Sundance, $15 million.
But today the action is all in streaming television. And I prefer series, because of the depth, but "My Old Ass" works as a movie, because it's more about vibe than story, which is what a film usually conveys better than a multi-episodic production.
So it's set in the lake country of Canada, where I've never been but so many of my Canadian friends retreat in the summer. Not that different from New England lake country, but I haven't been there recently either.
It's the middle of nowhere, and in less than a month, young Elliott, played so naturally by fresh-faced Maisy Stella, will decamp for Toronto, for the U of T.
She's itching to leave, but knows she can always return.
Or is that not the way life works. What you think is still available...is it ultimately gone?
And she's young and brassy and confident but then she encounters old Elliott, Aubrey Plaza, who is not as excited at the age of 39 and young Elliott is confused, but ultimately decides to take Aubrey/Elliott's counsel.
So...
Nothing could be more different from what we've been concerned with in the world this past week. Sure, there are smartphones, but no politics, and no judgment of the internet.
But there are questions of friendship and sexuality and...
I saw that "My Old Ass" had finally made it to Prime, sooner than usual after debuting in the theatre, while I still remembered the reviews, which were good. And I turned it on...
And didn't want to turn it off.
And in this world of so many choices, that is rare.
It's billed as sci-fi, but if you're thinking of lasers and futuristic landscapes, don't bother. Would I say it's a chick flick? Not exactly. It's not gooey, although there is passion, and it's very realistic.
This is the life we all live, which we don't see in the news. This is the soul fulfillment we're looking for.
I don't want to overhype it. "My Old Ass" is not deserving of an Oscar (although more people will see it than many films that do win Academy Awards), but it hits a note. Not nostalgia. It's not pulling at your heartstrings. It somehow encapsulates regular life, which we're living 24/7, and that's why it resonated with me.
--
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--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Saturday 9 November 2024
Changes
"Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes"
"Changes"
David Bowie
The Beatles were dismissed as teenage tripe until "Yesterday" and "Michelle," the backwards vocals of "Rain" and "Sgt. Pepper," and the adoption of the act by Leonard Bernstein and others in the pantheon of artists respected by establishment.
The Beatles wiped out everything that came before except the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons, they ushered in a new era of innovation, the world was music crazy.
Just like with the internet.
And the internet is the devil to the establishment. In these days, the east coast elites who control media.
Social media must be stopped. It's ruining our children. Look at that kid who killed himself over a chatbot. All chatbots must die!
Kinda like in the old days when just a few disgruntled viewers would call into a station and a TV program would be cancelled. The minority would whipsaw the majority.
But the Beatles were so successful they ushered in a golden era of music, at least commercially, that was only threatened at the turn of the century by Napster. The CD is forever! Even though you can now listen to better than CD quality on numerous streaming services, including mainstay Apple.
Someone asked me how the Democratic party could turn it all around.
I said it would happen when the baby boomers died. And maybe some of the Gen-X'ers too.
Same deal with the music industry. Old people who think they know better doing their best to keep in place an old model that is no longer serving the populace.
That is the story of the year in recorded music. The consolidated major labels have lost control over new music, which is now the land of indies, many making stuff that is anything but Top 40/Spotify Top 50 friendly.
Not that MAGA isn't a complete load of crap. Things weren't that good in the old days, and the past has never returned in my lifetime. Sure, there's some nostalgia, like with vinyl records, but if you lived through that era you think digital music is the best thing that ever happened! The records don't skip, they don't have any surface noise, you don't have to lift the needle at the end of the record, never mind drop it to begin with, and the digital file sounds just as good the thousandth time through unlike the vinyl.
Ah, but people yearn for the old days.
But youngsters are not constrained by them.
Youngsters were on Facebook until better products were released and they abandoned the service to oldsters, who came lately. The youngsters will abandon a platform for a newer, more enticing one on a regular basis. And every time this happens the oldsters are confounded, say they're not moving from Facebook, if they're on it at all, and it's all right to share vacation photos, but we must set limits.
Humans live to connect. It's in our DNA. And the oldsters want to deny this? Imagine being able to contact each and every person you ever encountered when you grew up, what a dream! The girl you knew at camp, you could message her instantly, even see each other via Facetime. But oh, the art of letter writing is gone, this isn't good, please bring back the letters.
And we knew who the stars were. The ones built by the system. If you didn't play by the rules, you couldn't get distribution, and sans distribution you couldn't play at all. There was a filter, of gatekeepers, and now that filter is gone.
Even worse, the biases and allegiances of the gatekeepers have been exposed. And the celebrities themselves have been in many cases revealed to be moneygrubbing nitwits. So...
The public used the new platforms to build their own empires, and the oldsters don't like it.
If you were on X, you could see the power of Elon his bros. But most people pontificating on the left were not on X, so how would they know? And TikTok is a pariah. Can you believe it, people are getting their news from TikTok! But how would you know what that really means if you've never been on TikTok?
The emperor has been revealed to have no clothes. And let's be clear, I'm speaking of the emperor on the left. Which told us ad infinitum that it knew better, was educated and could see the landscape and was to be trusted, when just the opposite was true.
News is big business. There are highly paid executives. It's a product.
But you can produce a podcast in a basement, for almost no dough. How can that be real? How can a record made by nobody in their bedroom be real?
Well, sans filter it's a lot more genuine.
Have you ever been interviewed for the news? Oftentimes the person you're speaking with has no underlying knowledge of the subject. They've got prepared questions, your answers are brief, and that's the way it's always been done. But Joe Rogan says he doesn't know much and lets you talk forever. And if you talk long enough, we can see who you are. Don't you see why this is appealing?
Who is Joe Rogan responsible to? Even Neil Young couldn't shut him down.
I'm not endorsing Rogan, but I can see how he's successful.
Let's be clear, he's paid his dues, it's not like he came from nowhere. He was a comic, a TV personality and then was lucky enough to be hooked up with the UFC and voila! Excoriate him all you want, but in truth he's a product of the old system who jumped into the new.
And people are always looking for the new.
The idea of new in TV news is to change the set. In today's world it's less about the penumbra than the nougat, the essence of what you're selling. You might have a pretty face, but to sustain attention, there must be something there.
One of the most revered podcasters is Sam Harris, a philosopher, with a slow delivery. He evidences thinking, he can question his beliefs, you don't see this on TV news. As Scott Galloway recently put it:
"People listen to pods to learn; they watch cable TV to sanctify what they already believe."
I turned on MSNBC two days after the election and it was the same as it ever was. The faults of the right, no reconsideration, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, us vs. them. I turned it off, I don't have time for that.
If you're excoriating the youth and social media, the internet in general, the joke is on you.
The smartphone is the greatest device ever invented by man. Better than the wheel. The smartphone can take you anywhere, instantly. Awaken you to new worlds. Keep you in touch with everybody and everything.
Anybody who has spent a lot of time using one knows this.
But we have articles in the "New York Times" about smartphone fasts, turning the device off for a day or a week or a month... And others telling you not to upgrade, and still others saying people are still keeping their flip phones. This is like oldsters in the sixties demanding radio bring back Perry Como!
And so many are unaware of the power of these devices. Sure, you can do your e-mail, text, but if you've got an iPhone 16 Pro and that's all you're doing, you're a person more concerned about image than what's inside. Dig deep. Get into reddit. Buy Apple News+. Oh, that's another thing, oldsters won't pop for subscriptions, for online costs like youngsters. You're buying air, something not real, and therefore they're out. Meanwhile, the less you spend the less you know. Not everything is free, contrary to conventional wisdom, especially news.
What this election has revealed is that those telling us they knew what was going on have absolutely no clue.
Starting with Biden. Who couldn't read the landscape. Yeah, we want a President in his eighties, who is already slowing down. If he just went online, he'd be aware of all the negative feedback, he might have reconsidered his position to run. If you're not checking in with what people are saying about you, then you don't know what kind of impact you're having. Sure, a lot of the hate should be ignored, but there's a lot to learn by being exposed to it.
And the Democratic party told us the instant anointment of Harris would yield no negative effects. Well, the internet is all about transparency. Never mind that when she actually ran, her goal was to say little or utter word salad.
Even worse, if you say any of the above, you're seen as a hater. The left has become as bad as the right.
So let me get this straight, I must agree with everybody on everything. I must love Taylor Swift, BTS, I have to subjugate my identity to be a member of the group. This is what the youngsters rebelled against in the sixties, which is why that decade resulted in so much revolutionary change.
I don't want to paint the right as angels. But at least they understand where we're at better than the left.
I know I'm shocked that my grocery prices are high. I went to Langer's for a #19 and it was $23.95. For a pastrami sandwich? How can that BE?
But you keep telling me the economy is great.
Sure, tell me every nation had inflation, and Biden did a good job of addressing it, but don't tell me everything's hunky-dory and we should just have more of the same.
These are basics. Even abortion is secondary to food on the table.
But the Democrats couldn't see this, not at all.
And the worst thing about the Democrats is since they're educated, the products of the good life, they believe they're right, they can't question their beliefs whatsoever. They've spent their entire life building to this perch, they don't want to sacrifice an iota, don't want to lose a step, they just want to stonewall. Sound like Trump? IT DOES!
Oh, I could list all the heinous Trump policies. And I didn't vote for him. But I never believed in Kamala Harris. I thought she was smart, but did I really think she was experienced and could do the job? And don't tell me about Obama, he was inexperienced and it showed. Enough of the coronation. Obama appeased the right to his and our detriment. Give Biden credit for ignoring the blowback and doing what was right.
Yes, Biden was very right before he got it wrong.
If this was sports they would have pulled him from the field long ago. Lose your skills and you're gone, whether you're Magic Johnson or Joe Namath or anybody. Becomes a time when you can't do it anymore. Doesn't mean you weren't great before.
Enough with the resistance. Enough of being down in the dumps. This is the time for a giant reset.
Sure, trans people need to be protected. Sure, we should protect the rights of minorities. But when these are considered our major issues, most of the public says where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar.
It's scary. Because right now there's no one to believe in. Not in the mainstream or the blogosphere or social media or in podcasting. You pick and choose, you literally do your own research. Ain't that a laugh. We should have trusted sources. We thought we had them. This week taught us we did not.
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"Changes"
David Bowie
The Beatles were dismissed as teenage tripe until "Yesterday" and "Michelle," the backwards vocals of "Rain" and "Sgt. Pepper," and the adoption of the act by Leonard Bernstein and others in the pantheon of artists respected by establishment.
The Beatles wiped out everything that came before except the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons, they ushered in a new era of innovation, the world was music crazy.
Just like with the internet.
And the internet is the devil to the establishment. In these days, the east coast elites who control media.
Social media must be stopped. It's ruining our children. Look at that kid who killed himself over a chatbot. All chatbots must die!
Kinda like in the old days when just a few disgruntled viewers would call into a station and a TV program would be cancelled. The minority would whipsaw the majority.
But the Beatles were so successful they ushered in a golden era of music, at least commercially, that was only threatened at the turn of the century by Napster. The CD is forever! Even though you can now listen to better than CD quality on numerous streaming services, including mainstay Apple.
Someone asked me how the Democratic party could turn it all around.
I said it would happen when the baby boomers died. And maybe some of the Gen-X'ers too.
Same deal with the music industry. Old people who think they know better doing their best to keep in place an old model that is no longer serving the populace.
That is the story of the year in recorded music. The consolidated major labels have lost control over new music, which is now the land of indies, many making stuff that is anything but Top 40/Spotify Top 50 friendly.
Not that MAGA isn't a complete load of crap. Things weren't that good in the old days, and the past has never returned in my lifetime. Sure, there's some nostalgia, like with vinyl records, but if you lived through that era you think digital music is the best thing that ever happened! The records don't skip, they don't have any surface noise, you don't have to lift the needle at the end of the record, never mind drop it to begin with, and the digital file sounds just as good the thousandth time through unlike the vinyl.
Ah, but people yearn for the old days.
But youngsters are not constrained by them.
Youngsters were on Facebook until better products were released and they abandoned the service to oldsters, who came lately. The youngsters will abandon a platform for a newer, more enticing one on a regular basis. And every time this happens the oldsters are confounded, say they're not moving from Facebook, if they're on it at all, and it's all right to share vacation photos, but we must set limits.
Humans live to connect. It's in our DNA. And the oldsters want to deny this? Imagine being able to contact each and every person you ever encountered when you grew up, what a dream! The girl you knew at camp, you could message her instantly, even see each other via Facetime. But oh, the art of letter writing is gone, this isn't good, please bring back the letters.
And we knew who the stars were. The ones built by the system. If you didn't play by the rules, you couldn't get distribution, and sans distribution you couldn't play at all. There was a filter, of gatekeepers, and now that filter is gone.
Even worse, the biases and allegiances of the gatekeepers have been exposed. And the celebrities themselves have been in many cases revealed to be moneygrubbing nitwits. So...
The public used the new platforms to build their own empires, and the oldsters don't like it.
If you were on X, you could see the power of Elon his bros. But most people pontificating on the left were not on X, so how would they know? And TikTok is a pariah. Can you believe it, people are getting their news from TikTok! But how would you know what that really means if you've never been on TikTok?
The emperor has been revealed to have no clothes. And let's be clear, I'm speaking of the emperor on the left. Which told us ad infinitum that it knew better, was educated and could see the landscape and was to be trusted, when just the opposite was true.
News is big business. There are highly paid executives. It's a product.
But you can produce a podcast in a basement, for almost no dough. How can that be real? How can a record made by nobody in their bedroom be real?
Well, sans filter it's a lot more genuine.
Have you ever been interviewed for the news? Oftentimes the person you're speaking with has no underlying knowledge of the subject. They've got prepared questions, your answers are brief, and that's the way it's always been done. But Joe Rogan says he doesn't know much and lets you talk forever. And if you talk long enough, we can see who you are. Don't you see why this is appealing?
Who is Joe Rogan responsible to? Even Neil Young couldn't shut him down.
I'm not endorsing Rogan, but I can see how he's successful.
Let's be clear, he's paid his dues, it's not like he came from nowhere. He was a comic, a TV personality and then was lucky enough to be hooked up with the UFC and voila! Excoriate him all you want, but in truth he's a product of the old system who jumped into the new.
And people are always looking for the new.
The idea of new in TV news is to change the set. In today's world it's less about the penumbra than the nougat, the essence of what you're selling. You might have a pretty face, but to sustain attention, there must be something there.
One of the most revered podcasters is Sam Harris, a philosopher, with a slow delivery. He evidences thinking, he can question his beliefs, you don't see this on TV news. As Scott Galloway recently put it:
"People listen to pods to learn; they watch cable TV to sanctify what they already believe."
I turned on MSNBC two days after the election and it was the same as it ever was. The faults of the right, no reconsideration, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, us vs. them. I turned it off, I don't have time for that.
If you're excoriating the youth and social media, the internet in general, the joke is on you.
The smartphone is the greatest device ever invented by man. Better than the wheel. The smartphone can take you anywhere, instantly. Awaken you to new worlds. Keep you in touch with everybody and everything.
Anybody who has spent a lot of time using one knows this.
But we have articles in the "New York Times" about smartphone fasts, turning the device off for a day or a week or a month... And others telling you not to upgrade, and still others saying people are still keeping their flip phones. This is like oldsters in the sixties demanding radio bring back Perry Como!
And so many are unaware of the power of these devices. Sure, you can do your e-mail, text, but if you've got an iPhone 16 Pro and that's all you're doing, you're a person more concerned about image than what's inside. Dig deep. Get into reddit. Buy Apple News+. Oh, that's another thing, oldsters won't pop for subscriptions, for online costs like youngsters. You're buying air, something not real, and therefore they're out. Meanwhile, the less you spend the less you know. Not everything is free, contrary to conventional wisdom, especially news.
What this election has revealed is that those telling us they knew what was going on have absolutely no clue.
Starting with Biden. Who couldn't read the landscape. Yeah, we want a President in his eighties, who is already slowing down. If he just went online, he'd be aware of all the negative feedback, he might have reconsidered his position to run. If you're not checking in with what people are saying about you, then you don't know what kind of impact you're having. Sure, a lot of the hate should be ignored, but there's a lot to learn by being exposed to it.
And the Democratic party told us the instant anointment of Harris would yield no negative effects. Well, the internet is all about transparency. Never mind that when she actually ran, her goal was to say little or utter word salad.
Even worse, if you say any of the above, you're seen as a hater. The left has become as bad as the right.
So let me get this straight, I must agree with everybody on everything. I must love Taylor Swift, BTS, I have to subjugate my identity to be a member of the group. This is what the youngsters rebelled against in the sixties, which is why that decade resulted in so much revolutionary change.
I don't want to paint the right as angels. But at least they understand where we're at better than the left.
I know I'm shocked that my grocery prices are high. I went to Langer's for a #19 and it was $23.95. For a pastrami sandwich? How can that BE?
But you keep telling me the economy is great.
Sure, tell me every nation had inflation, and Biden did a good job of addressing it, but don't tell me everything's hunky-dory and we should just have more of the same.
These are basics. Even abortion is secondary to food on the table.
But the Democrats couldn't see this, not at all.
And the worst thing about the Democrats is since they're educated, the products of the good life, they believe they're right, they can't question their beliefs whatsoever. They've spent their entire life building to this perch, they don't want to sacrifice an iota, don't want to lose a step, they just want to stonewall. Sound like Trump? IT DOES!
Oh, I could list all the heinous Trump policies. And I didn't vote for him. But I never believed in Kamala Harris. I thought she was smart, but did I really think she was experienced and could do the job? And don't tell me about Obama, he was inexperienced and it showed. Enough of the coronation. Obama appeased the right to his and our detriment. Give Biden credit for ignoring the blowback and doing what was right.
Yes, Biden was very right before he got it wrong.
If this was sports they would have pulled him from the field long ago. Lose your skills and you're gone, whether you're Magic Johnson or Joe Namath or anybody. Becomes a time when you can't do it anymore. Doesn't mean you weren't great before.
Enough with the resistance. Enough of being down in the dumps. This is the time for a giant reset.
Sure, trans people need to be protected. Sure, we should protect the rights of minorities. But when these are considered our major issues, most of the public says where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar.
It's scary. Because right now there's no one to believe in. Not in the mainstream or the blogosphere or social media or in podcasting. You pick and choose, you literally do your own research. Ain't that a laugh. We should have trusted sources. We thought we had them. This week taught us we did not.
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Disclaimer On Apple TV+
What we've got here is an A level production of a B level story, but there is a sex scene that is so realistic that I can't stop thinking about it.
The problem with Apple TV+ is they hype these series, there's press when they start, but then they drip out the episodes one per week. Such that there's little incentive to start watching them and ultimately limited buzz.
Yes, I'm going to stand on this petard. It's one thing if it's an out of the box smash, like "Ted Lasso." But the rest of these shows...they come out and you rarely hear anything thing about them, and a number are worth watching.
Like "Silo." Not the best show on the flat screen, but definitely interesting. Not a single person ever e-mailed me about the first season, NOT ONE! Yes, someone recently e-mailed me about the coming second season, but... Apple is not HBO, there's no built-in buzz to the service. How do they get people excited about it? By finding something that delivers heat, and that's not always the best show out there. People need something to watch. Everybody's foraging in the wilderness for entertainment. And if you can't binge it, if you can't complete it on your own schedule, many people don't even start. But you've got the boomers who control media nostalgic for an old paradigm who convince these streamers to do it the way they did it years ago, in this case to Apple's detriment.
So you've got Cate Blanchett, a great actress. And Kevin Kline, who blends into the character so well that you're constantly asking yourself if it's really him. However Sacha Baron Cohen... It's great to see him in a straight role, but he doesn't ring completely true. Is this because we're used to seeing him in comedy or he misses the mark... I'd have to ask someone who's never seen him in anything previously to render the ultimate judgment.
So what we've got here is a genre piece. The problem is these formulas are so well worn that it's hard to create something new, or there's a twist that's unforeseen that renders everything you believed before unreasonable and...
"Disciple" is just like that. If "Disciple" had been a story about maturing adults coping with life and their disaffected son, without the underpinnings of this suspense/crime drama, it would have been more interesting. But that's hard to create out of thin air.
So the cinematography is exquisite. And I forgot to mention Lesley Manville, who is always great, as Jonathan's mother. And the story begins with Catherine/Blanchett receiving an award for her efforts as a documentarian and Jonathan and Sasha's trip in Italy and...
Then the whole thing goes haywire.
Now this is the kind of story where you re-evaluate everything based on the ultimate reveal, what was really going on, but at this point you're just enjoying the scenery.
And then...
Well, I'll make it simple, even if you haven't watched, Jonathan dies, what happened?
And what exactly happened between Christine and Jonathan, after all there are all those racy photos of her in her lingerie on the bed.
And Sacha/Robert feels inadequate, in that Christine was more sexually experienced than he was when they got together and...
One of the other problems with the series is that young Christine is played by Leila George, not exactly a sexpot, but definitely sporting model looks, and Blanchett? She's not as good-looking.
Now this wouldn't matter if Blanchett played the role solely by herself, she's plenty good-looking, but Leila George turns heads. So there's cognitive dissonance.
But there's a moment between Christine and Jonathan in the bedroom...
Most sex scenes in movies are over the top. Moaning and groaning. Gorgeous people putting on a show that you can watch but not relate to. But what Leila/Christine asks for, and how Jonathan is turned on, what she tells him to do... I could relate to this, I've been there, it feels real.
But, once again, the series ultimately does not.
You know a twist is coming. It's obvious. Something's got to turn. But in order to be truly satiating, the screw needs to turn one more time. Is Christine innocent or is she really the bad girl Kline and Manville believe her to be? Is she manipulative, trading on young Christine's beauty and wiles, or...
"Disclaimer" is not "Gone Girl." Which is a mediocre movie but a shock of a book. Which is why it became such a big seller, part of the public consciousness. Word spread, you felt you had to read it, and then there came a point in the book where your mind was blown and you could not put it down.
Then again, Apple is trying to create product on a much higher level than most outlets. But acting and images cannot trump story. Story shot poorly can still be great, but when it's the reverse...
So you're on your own with "Disclaimer." I was going to recommend it until I watched last night's final episode, finally available. Sans that anticipated final twist, something to blow my mind, I was disappointed. So she's a good girl after all?
Here's hoping she's not, because not every movie heroine is.
And that's what makes it interesting. That's what keeps you jumping. Because not everybody is upfront and honest. You don't necessarily get what you see. Which makes life mysterious. A game you want to play that requires you to beware. "Disclaimer" gets close, but ultimately punts.
As for what causes breakups in relationships... Real relationships, not movie relationships, take a whole hell of a lot to break.
And why did Christine not tell her truth earlier?
Frustrating.
--
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--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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The problem with Apple TV+ is they hype these series, there's press when they start, but then they drip out the episodes one per week. Such that there's little incentive to start watching them and ultimately limited buzz.
Yes, I'm going to stand on this petard. It's one thing if it's an out of the box smash, like "Ted Lasso." But the rest of these shows...they come out and you rarely hear anything thing about them, and a number are worth watching.
Like "Silo." Not the best show on the flat screen, but definitely interesting. Not a single person ever e-mailed me about the first season, NOT ONE! Yes, someone recently e-mailed me about the coming second season, but... Apple is not HBO, there's no built-in buzz to the service. How do they get people excited about it? By finding something that delivers heat, and that's not always the best show out there. People need something to watch. Everybody's foraging in the wilderness for entertainment. And if you can't binge it, if you can't complete it on your own schedule, many people don't even start. But you've got the boomers who control media nostalgic for an old paradigm who convince these streamers to do it the way they did it years ago, in this case to Apple's detriment.
So you've got Cate Blanchett, a great actress. And Kevin Kline, who blends into the character so well that you're constantly asking yourself if it's really him. However Sacha Baron Cohen... It's great to see him in a straight role, but he doesn't ring completely true. Is this because we're used to seeing him in comedy or he misses the mark... I'd have to ask someone who's never seen him in anything previously to render the ultimate judgment.
So what we've got here is a genre piece. The problem is these formulas are so well worn that it's hard to create something new, or there's a twist that's unforeseen that renders everything you believed before unreasonable and...
"Disciple" is just like that. If "Disciple" had been a story about maturing adults coping with life and their disaffected son, without the underpinnings of this suspense/crime drama, it would have been more interesting. But that's hard to create out of thin air.
So the cinematography is exquisite. And I forgot to mention Lesley Manville, who is always great, as Jonathan's mother. And the story begins with Catherine/Blanchett receiving an award for her efforts as a documentarian and Jonathan and Sasha's trip in Italy and...
Then the whole thing goes haywire.
Now this is the kind of story where you re-evaluate everything based on the ultimate reveal, what was really going on, but at this point you're just enjoying the scenery.
And then...
Well, I'll make it simple, even if you haven't watched, Jonathan dies, what happened?
And what exactly happened between Christine and Jonathan, after all there are all those racy photos of her in her lingerie on the bed.
And Sacha/Robert feels inadequate, in that Christine was more sexually experienced than he was when they got together and...
One of the other problems with the series is that young Christine is played by Leila George, not exactly a sexpot, but definitely sporting model looks, and Blanchett? She's not as good-looking.
Now this wouldn't matter if Blanchett played the role solely by herself, she's plenty good-looking, but Leila George turns heads. So there's cognitive dissonance.
But there's a moment between Christine and Jonathan in the bedroom...
Most sex scenes in movies are over the top. Moaning and groaning. Gorgeous people putting on a show that you can watch but not relate to. But what Leila/Christine asks for, and how Jonathan is turned on, what she tells him to do... I could relate to this, I've been there, it feels real.
But, once again, the series ultimately does not.
You know a twist is coming. It's obvious. Something's got to turn. But in order to be truly satiating, the screw needs to turn one more time. Is Christine innocent or is she really the bad girl Kline and Manville believe her to be? Is she manipulative, trading on young Christine's beauty and wiles, or...
"Disclaimer" is not "Gone Girl." Which is a mediocre movie but a shock of a book. Which is why it became such a big seller, part of the public consciousness. Word spread, you felt you had to read it, and then there came a point in the book where your mind was blown and you could not put it down.
Then again, Apple is trying to create product on a much higher level than most outlets. But acting and images cannot trump story. Story shot poorly can still be great, but when it's the reverse...
So you're on your own with "Disclaimer." I was going to recommend it until I watched last night's final episode, finally available. Sans that anticipated final twist, something to blow my mind, I was disappointed. So she's a good girl after all?
Here's hoping she's not, because not every movie heroine is.
And that's what makes it interesting. That's what keeps you jumping. Because not everybody is upfront and honest. You don't necessarily get what you see. Which makes life mysterious. A game you want to play that requires you to beware. "Disclaimer" gets close, but ultimately punts.
As for what causes breakups in relationships... Real relationships, not movie relationships, take a whole hell of a lot to break.
And why did Christine not tell her truth earlier?
Frustrating.
--
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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Friday 8 November 2024
Amsterdam
Does the election of Trump mean America is not as antisemitic as the media tells us it is?
Then again, there was that pesky march in Charlottesville, with the perps claiming they didn't want the Jews to replace them. That was news to me, I mean how many Jews are there? If you're thinking about someone replacing you, don't you mention...
You can't mention anyone at all. Because the left wing police will breathe down your neck.
Now if you're of a certain age, you were brought up with tales of concentration camps, you heard "Never Again." But now it's happening again.
It was unfathomable to me as a child. Didn't anybody know, why didn't they do anything?
Well, I was at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum and they had reprints of newspapers from the war and it was astounding to find so much of the Germans' efforts to first marginalize the Jews, then ship them off and kill them, was in the news.
And still, no one did anything. After all, it's not you, you're not in danger. No one would really do that, right?
And then there was Munich in '72. All those Israeli sportsmen assassinated. Big news back then, but it all seems to have been forgotten today, lost to the sands of time.
Today Jews are seen as they always have been...as moneygrubbers, as the other, troublemakers. They just don't know how to fit in and be like the rest of us.
So Biden and Kamala couldn't formulate a proper Israel/Gaza and now Lebanon policy. Their instincts told them to let the Israelis fight it out, but the Squad was against them, they had to be nice to the Muslims, they didn't want to look like Trump, and on campus, amongst the elite...
There was this concept of oppressed and oppressor. The Palestinians had nothing, the Israelis had tech, even an Iron Dome protecting them from missiles, it was an unfair balance, things needed to be equalized.
But this left out the position of the Palestinians, who have never wanted equalization, but EVERYTHING! All the land, the Jews gone, just like in the rest of history.
I mean the Jews have this one little country, the size of New Jersey, and that's too much. It was desert, they improved it. The land the Palestinians have is not improved. This is not equitable!
And this lens paralyzed those on the left.
And now this pogrom happens in Amsterdam.
At first blush it just appeared to be post football hooliganism. Not uncommon in the U.K. and Europe. After all, a guy supporting the wrong team was nearly beaten to death at Dodger Stadium.
But it turned out there was more to the story. They were chasing these Jews. To the point where some jumped in the canals for safety. The supporters of the Israeli soccer team, unafraid to show their affiliation, were targeted and...
That's the story all over the internet today. How these attacks were PLANNED! And we live in the digital age, there are SCREENSHOTS!
But the major news outlets are still waiting for more information, as a misperception takes hold. This was not a minor scuffle, this was an ATTACK!
But we've got to report with equanimity. Fair and balanced is our motto.
So... There's no outrage, just reporting. This contributed to the election of Trump, the lack of outrage in big media. The newspapers were so busy trying to appear unbiased, that they normalized Trump. I mean how bad can he be if everybody isn't truly freaking out? The press kept itself at a distance. Saying it was not their job.
Then what is their job? To be afraid of retribution like Jeff Bezos, who immediately kissed Trump's ass after his victory was declared?
Bezos sacrificed all his credibility. As did the WaPo. And it's nearly impossible to earn back. One small faux pas, and you're history.
But when it comes to Jews...what does it matter?
Do you think I'm gonna put a Mezuzah on my door? Do you think I'm going to advertise I'm a Jew? As I mentioned previously, after I moved to a house in Santa Monica someone spray-painted "Jew" with a Jewish star underneath on my garage door. As shocking as the image was, what completely confounded me was, HOW DID THEY KNOW?
So...
Is it open season on Jews?
One thing that has come out online, anyway, is that the Mossad warned the Amsterdam authorities, who ended up doing nothing. I don't want to step out on a limb here, but if it had been another minority would there be the same lack of action?
So where does this leave me, my loved ones, my people?
It's been all Trump all the time, People crying in their beer. Prognostications as to his future administration.
Meanwhile the world marches on. Time hasn't stopped. People are still living, news is still being made. But Amsterdam is not the headline on any news app as I write this, not the NYT, WaPo, WSJ or LAT. I mean who cares about the Jews? Once again, if it had been another ethnic group...
I'm afraid. I'm shook. I'm keeping one eye open. Because if they can do it in Amsterdam without serious consequences, they can do it in the States too.
All based on Israel's retaliation to the October 7th Hamas attack. We were the aggressors in the Middle East, we were not defending ourselves, but the Israelis, they're not allowed to fight back? Or only fight a little bit?
Reminds me of when immigrants open a corner store. You like that they sell you pickles. Clothing. These were avenues Jews entered because they were locked out of professions.
Good for the little people.
But then they weren't so little. These tiny shops turned into edifices, and that wasn't fair. Ever notice that the number one pariah on the left is a Jew? That's right, George Soros. Of all the billionaires to attack, isn't it interesting that this one is Jewish? And who's going to come to the rescue of the Jew, who is going to defend the Jew?
Sure, we had Schindler, kudos, but most people shrug, it's not them, they don't want to get involved.
But this is me. And all the b.s. the right has claimed about the left has turned out to be true. The indoctrination on campuses. Did you read the report on the spring protests on Ivy League campuses, the one about UCLA? Positively horrifying. The university brass was so afraid of offending Palestinians and their supporters that...they blinked and didn't do almost anything. They had to appear fair, to the point where Jews could not even make it to class, where Jews on the UCLA campus were interrogated whether they were Zionists.
This all happened here.
So if there's one silver lining of Trump's election it's that at least he's strong on Israel. The left is so afraid of conflagration they abhor all fighting. But sometimes you have to pick up arms. No one wants death.
So most people aren't looking for the news in Amsterdam. They don't have passports, they don't plan on going, it's all happening in a land far, far away.
And the funny thing is after 10/7 immigration to Israel from the U.S. has INCREASED!
You know why?
Fear.
Israel is the last stop. I don't plan on going, but it's good to know there's somewhere they will take me, where we can all fight back.
Because sometimes you just have to.
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--
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Then again, there was that pesky march in Charlottesville, with the perps claiming they didn't want the Jews to replace them. That was news to me, I mean how many Jews are there? If you're thinking about someone replacing you, don't you mention...
You can't mention anyone at all. Because the left wing police will breathe down your neck.
Now if you're of a certain age, you were brought up with tales of concentration camps, you heard "Never Again." But now it's happening again.
It was unfathomable to me as a child. Didn't anybody know, why didn't they do anything?
Well, I was at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum and they had reprints of newspapers from the war and it was astounding to find so much of the Germans' efforts to first marginalize the Jews, then ship them off and kill them, was in the news.
And still, no one did anything. After all, it's not you, you're not in danger. No one would really do that, right?
And then there was Munich in '72. All those Israeli sportsmen assassinated. Big news back then, but it all seems to have been forgotten today, lost to the sands of time.
Today Jews are seen as they always have been...as moneygrubbers, as the other, troublemakers. They just don't know how to fit in and be like the rest of us.
So Biden and Kamala couldn't formulate a proper Israel/Gaza and now Lebanon policy. Their instincts told them to let the Israelis fight it out, but the Squad was against them, they had to be nice to the Muslims, they didn't want to look like Trump, and on campus, amongst the elite...
There was this concept of oppressed and oppressor. The Palestinians had nothing, the Israelis had tech, even an Iron Dome protecting them from missiles, it was an unfair balance, things needed to be equalized.
But this left out the position of the Palestinians, who have never wanted equalization, but EVERYTHING! All the land, the Jews gone, just like in the rest of history.
I mean the Jews have this one little country, the size of New Jersey, and that's too much. It was desert, they improved it. The land the Palestinians have is not improved. This is not equitable!
And this lens paralyzed those on the left.
And now this pogrom happens in Amsterdam.
At first blush it just appeared to be post football hooliganism. Not uncommon in the U.K. and Europe. After all, a guy supporting the wrong team was nearly beaten to death at Dodger Stadium.
But it turned out there was more to the story. They were chasing these Jews. To the point where some jumped in the canals for safety. The supporters of the Israeli soccer team, unafraid to show their affiliation, were targeted and...
That's the story all over the internet today. How these attacks were PLANNED! And we live in the digital age, there are SCREENSHOTS!
But the major news outlets are still waiting for more information, as a misperception takes hold. This was not a minor scuffle, this was an ATTACK!
But we've got to report with equanimity. Fair and balanced is our motto.
So... There's no outrage, just reporting. This contributed to the election of Trump, the lack of outrage in big media. The newspapers were so busy trying to appear unbiased, that they normalized Trump. I mean how bad can he be if everybody isn't truly freaking out? The press kept itself at a distance. Saying it was not their job.
Then what is their job? To be afraid of retribution like Jeff Bezos, who immediately kissed Trump's ass after his victory was declared?
Bezos sacrificed all his credibility. As did the WaPo. And it's nearly impossible to earn back. One small faux pas, and you're history.
But when it comes to Jews...what does it matter?
Do you think I'm gonna put a Mezuzah on my door? Do you think I'm going to advertise I'm a Jew? As I mentioned previously, after I moved to a house in Santa Monica someone spray-painted "Jew" with a Jewish star underneath on my garage door. As shocking as the image was, what completely confounded me was, HOW DID THEY KNOW?
So...
Is it open season on Jews?
One thing that has come out online, anyway, is that the Mossad warned the Amsterdam authorities, who ended up doing nothing. I don't want to step out on a limb here, but if it had been another minority would there be the same lack of action?
So where does this leave me, my loved ones, my people?
It's been all Trump all the time, People crying in their beer. Prognostications as to his future administration.
Meanwhile the world marches on. Time hasn't stopped. People are still living, news is still being made. But Amsterdam is not the headline on any news app as I write this, not the NYT, WaPo, WSJ or LAT. I mean who cares about the Jews? Once again, if it had been another ethnic group...
I'm afraid. I'm shook. I'm keeping one eye open. Because if they can do it in Amsterdam without serious consequences, they can do it in the States too.
All based on Israel's retaliation to the October 7th Hamas attack. We were the aggressors in the Middle East, we were not defending ourselves, but the Israelis, they're not allowed to fight back? Or only fight a little bit?
Reminds me of when immigrants open a corner store. You like that they sell you pickles. Clothing. These were avenues Jews entered because they were locked out of professions.
Good for the little people.
But then they weren't so little. These tiny shops turned into edifices, and that wasn't fair. Ever notice that the number one pariah on the left is a Jew? That's right, George Soros. Of all the billionaires to attack, isn't it interesting that this one is Jewish? And who's going to come to the rescue of the Jew, who is going to defend the Jew?
Sure, we had Schindler, kudos, but most people shrug, it's not them, they don't want to get involved.
But this is me. And all the b.s. the right has claimed about the left has turned out to be true. The indoctrination on campuses. Did you read the report on the spring protests on Ivy League campuses, the one about UCLA? Positively horrifying. The university brass was so afraid of offending Palestinians and their supporters that...they blinked and didn't do almost anything. They had to appear fair, to the point where Jews could not even make it to class, where Jews on the UCLA campus were interrogated whether they were Zionists.
This all happened here.
So if there's one silver lining of Trump's election it's that at least he's strong on Israel. The left is so afraid of conflagration they abhor all fighting. But sometimes you have to pick up arms. No one wants death.
So most people aren't looking for the news in Amsterdam. They don't have passports, they don't plan on going, it's all happening in a land far, far away.
And the funny thing is after 10/7 immigration to Israel from the U.S. has INCREASED!
You know why?
Fear.
Israel is the last stop. I don't plan on going, but it's good to know there's somewhere they will take me, where we can all fight back.
Because sometimes you just have to.
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Dreams-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday November 9th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
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The Springsteen Documentary
"Road Diary": https://t.ly/7Zv8T
1
The highlight was "Nightshift," the Commodores sans Lionel Richie number that speaks of what's goin' on with the recently passed Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye and the great music they're playing up in heaven.
Now what struck me, what made such a big impression, is that I've never ever heard any rocker speak of this late soul nugget, never mind sing it. Not that I'm a Commodores expert, far from it, but "Nightshift" was a hit in 1985, when MTV engendered new Top Forty stations on FM radio, traditionally the bastion of AOR, the white rockers. And pushing the buttons on the Blaupunkt, I heard it, and liked it, it was a personal favorite. And when someone else loves one of your favorites, you feel good.
But the rest of the documentary is pure hagiography.
"Hagiography: the writing of the lives of saints."
New Oxford American Dictionary
And the funny thing is all the commentary said otherwise. That this was the story of what Bruce had been going through, dealing with Patti's illness, that you got to know the real Bruce.
Hogwash.
However the end, where Bruce ruminates on the death of an old bandmate, when he sings that he's the last man standing from that band...that's great, that's what I wanted more of, elder rocker in context.
Otherwise, it was frozen in time. Could have been 1984, never mind 2024.
You watch this documentary and wince, it makes you feel that rock and roll is over.
I know, I know, now you've got your knickers in a twist. Just like the cats all over the world blowing back about my article re closing unprofitable clubs. You can't challenge orthodoxy. If you do, you're a pariah.
And that's why Kamala Harris lost. The world had changed, but the Democratic party had not. They were totally oblivious.
Springsteen sticks out like a sore thumb, it's pure nostalgia, it's almost creepy.
Oh, by the end you're in the mood, you're in the groove. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy a Springsteen show, I'm just saying it's MEANINGLESS!
Rock used to represent danger, pushing the envelope. This is all about giving the public what it wants. A brain dead adoring audience. Akin to the Deadheads. What I say about both of these acts is I don't hate the performers, I hate their fans.
Because the fans are like the Democrats. There's unquestioning devotion, and if you don't agree, you're stupid.
Now Bruce tried to break free in the nineties. Canning the band and working with new players. And I've got to tell you, the cut "Human Touch" is one of my all time favorites from the man from the Jersey Shore.
But the public rejected it.
Sure, there were two albums released simultaneously. But mostly, they yearned for the E Street Band. Can't we go back to where we once belonged, can't everybody just get along?
Nope.
Time only marches in one direction. Not that there's an inherent flaw in nostalgia, and that's one of the flaws of MAGAworld, the false belief that there was a golden era in the past that we can return to, but the truth is we're always looking for something new and exciting. And the greats don't get stuck in their personas, they evolve.
Whether the audience stays along for the ride or not.
Bowie was out in the wilderness before he reconnected with "Let's Dance." And then he went BACK into the wilderness. Because it had to be interesting to him.
Ditto Neil Young.
Bob Dylan? He doesn't seem to care what you think, he's just going to do it his way.
But if you go to a Bruce Springsteen show you know exactly what you're going to get, which may be the attraction, but that's not the essence of rock and roll.
2
Haven't we learned that the public connects, your image is enhanced, when you reveal your warts? I'd posit the Metallica movie "Some Kind of Monster" cemented the band's place in the pantheon forever. Underground metal band breaks through to huge mainstream success and then...reveals it's all f*cked up and is having trouble staying together. This we can relate to. Substance abuse, divorce. James Hetfield is still a rock star, but he's also human, not purely iconic.
This film could have contained all those elements. Hell, there was low hanging fruit. How did Bruce decide to sell his rights to Sony? How does he feel about his kids...growing up, leaving the house, making their own way, inheriting his assets? How does he cope with Patti's diagnosis? What responsibilities does he feel he has to her, to us?
But no, we've got arena rocker on a pedestal creating the set list of a lifetime while everybody who's ever worked for him says what a god he is. What's interesting about that? Not much. As for the performance footage, mostly in rehearsal...there's a reason performance films have never resonated in the marketplace, they're absent the key elements of a live show, you can't feel it, you can't smell it, you're not involved in it.
Meanwhile, Bruce is singing about the same damn things he did in his twenties. And he's lost when it comes to new material. Who gives a sh*t about "Mary's Place." Not that we need broad statements. We don't need solutions to world affairs, we want the personal, we're all people, including Bruce, what's it like to be on the planet?
3
So I don't see a future for rock and roll. Old people can't sing about teenage life, adolescent romance, and young people don't want to play rock.
Hell, we went through this once before, and the result was punk.
But then punk became a caricature of itself.
But it turned out Kurt Cobain could write great songs, irrelevant of the style in which they were performed, and Green Day could create catchy tunes with meaning and...
Now all we've got is smiling Dave Grohl. I can sleep in peace around Dave, he's not going to steal my money or my car, whereas I've been around musicians that demand you keep one eye open, or...they might have too many beers and then lord knows what will happen.
Sure, I write a lot about old songs and how they resonate. But in truth, it's always the new things that resonate most. The new and different is always more satisfying than the old and comfortable. And once you step out of your comfort zone, possibilities open up, there are new avenues to explore, whereas when you're stuck in a rut...
Rock is stuck in a rut.
4
So I'm Debbie Downer. Sorry.
But I know it when I see it, when I hear it. And I'm always looking for it.
Everybody's cutting everybody a break, everybody's afraid to offend anybody. Then again, Donald Trump is more rock than the rock stars. The image of rockers was built on lies. Half the stories that are legend never happened. I didn't want him elected, but I've got to say, Trump was so out of control the past few weeks that it was an amazing movie to watch. And the funny thing is people bought it! Just like they bought the rock stars of yore. They didn't scratch their heads and wonder...if there are no taxes on tips, no taxes on social security, and my tax rate goes down...HOW EXACTLY DOES THAT WORK?
They bought the myth, the image.
Then again, Trump was three-dimensional, unlike Kamala, who was presented in 2-D.
Springsteen is 2-D in "Road Diary." Massaged, handled, you learn almost nothing. You're presented with a hard-working saint, someone who is better than us who must be adored.
Oh, don't make me whip out my bona fides. I saw Bruce at the Bottom Line in 1974, the year before "Born to Run," when the "Jungleland" he played had not yet been released on wax. I played "Candy's Room" at full volume on my first date with my ex-wife. I told all those women in the AOL chat rooms I was looking for the human touch.
But I can question my heroes.
Bruce has been subsumed by his image. And his handlers are keeping him from reality.
There's a business in delivering the old hits.
But it doesn't change the world.
And once rock did.
Once Bruce Springsteen did. An album of demos that was mastered from a cassette? "Nebraska" was a risk, there's no risk in "Road Diary," and no buzz either, because who other than diehard fans needs to see it, and even they don't need to see it. Why even put it out? We're looking for art, not commerce.
Kitty is definitely not back in "Road Diary."
But we're still waiting for her to reappear.
But in this movie Bruce ain't giving us much hope.
And he's one of the last people standing.
I need to believe, I'm looking for belief, I'm looking for something new and different that touches my soul, illuminates the path forward.
And "Road Diary" ain't it.
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1
The highlight was "Nightshift," the Commodores sans Lionel Richie number that speaks of what's goin' on with the recently passed Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye and the great music they're playing up in heaven.
Now what struck me, what made such a big impression, is that I've never ever heard any rocker speak of this late soul nugget, never mind sing it. Not that I'm a Commodores expert, far from it, but "Nightshift" was a hit in 1985, when MTV engendered new Top Forty stations on FM radio, traditionally the bastion of AOR, the white rockers. And pushing the buttons on the Blaupunkt, I heard it, and liked it, it was a personal favorite. And when someone else loves one of your favorites, you feel good.
But the rest of the documentary is pure hagiography.
"Hagiography: the writing of the lives of saints."
New Oxford American Dictionary
And the funny thing is all the commentary said otherwise. That this was the story of what Bruce had been going through, dealing with Patti's illness, that you got to know the real Bruce.
Hogwash.
However the end, where Bruce ruminates on the death of an old bandmate, when he sings that he's the last man standing from that band...that's great, that's what I wanted more of, elder rocker in context.
Otherwise, it was frozen in time. Could have been 1984, never mind 2024.
You watch this documentary and wince, it makes you feel that rock and roll is over.
I know, I know, now you've got your knickers in a twist. Just like the cats all over the world blowing back about my article re closing unprofitable clubs. You can't challenge orthodoxy. If you do, you're a pariah.
And that's why Kamala Harris lost. The world had changed, but the Democratic party had not. They were totally oblivious.
Springsteen sticks out like a sore thumb, it's pure nostalgia, it's almost creepy.
Oh, by the end you're in the mood, you're in the groove. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy a Springsteen show, I'm just saying it's MEANINGLESS!
Rock used to represent danger, pushing the envelope. This is all about giving the public what it wants. A brain dead adoring audience. Akin to the Deadheads. What I say about both of these acts is I don't hate the performers, I hate their fans.
Because the fans are like the Democrats. There's unquestioning devotion, and if you don't agree, you're stupid.
Now Bruce tried to break free in the nineties. Canning the band and working with new players. And I've got to tell you, the cut "Human Touch" is one of my all time favorites from the man from the Jersey Shore.
But the public rejected it.
Sure, there were two albums released simultaneously. But mostly, they yearned for the E Street Band. Can't we go back to where we once belonged, can't everybody just get along?
Nope.
Time only marches in one direction. Not that there's an inherent flaw in nostalgia, and that's one of the flaws of MAGAworld, the false belief that there was a golden era in the past that we can return to, but the truth is we're always looking for something new and exciting. And the greats don't get stuck in their personas, they evolve.
Whether the audience stays along for the ride or not.
Bowie was out in the wilderness before he reconnected with "Let's Dance." And then he went BACK into the wilderness. Because it had to be interesting to him.
Ditto Neil Young.
Bob Dylan? He doesn't seem to care what you think, he's just going to do it his way.
But if you go to a Bruce Springsteen show you know exactly what you're going to get, which may be the attraction, but that's not the essence of rock and roll.
2
Haven't we learned that the public connects, your image is enhanced, when you reveal your warts? I'd posit the Metallica movie "Some Kind of Monster" cemented the band's place in the pantheon forever. Underground metal band breaks through to huge mainstream success and then...reveals it's all f*cked up and is having trouble staying together. This we can relate to. Substance abuse, divorce. James Hetfield is still a rock star, but he's also human, not purely iconic.
This film could have contained all those elements. Hell, there was low hanging fruit. How did Bruce decide to sell his rights to Sony? How does he feel about his kids...growing up, leaving the house, making their own way, inheriting his assets? How does he cope with Patti's diagnosis? What responsibilities does he feel he has to her, to us?
But no, we've got arena rocker on a pedestal creating the set list of a lifetime while everybody who's ever worked for him says what a god he is. What's interesting about that? Not much. As for the performance footage, mostly in rehearsal...there's a reason performance films have never resonated in the marketplace, they're absent the key elements of a live show, you can't feel it, you can't smell it, you're not involved in it.
Meanwhile, Bruce is singing about the same damn things he did in his twenties. And he's lost when it comes to new material. Who gives a sh*t about "Mary's Place." Not that we need broad statements. We don't need solutions to world affairs, we want the personal, we're all people, including Bruce, what's it like to be on the planet?
3
So I don't see a future for rock and roll. Old people can't sing about teenage life, adolescent romance, and young people don't want to play rock.
Hell, we went through this once before, and the result was punk.
But then punk became a caricature of itself.
But it turned out Kurt Cobain could write great songs, irrelevant of the style in which they were performed, and Green Day could create catchy tunes with meaning and...
Now all we've got is smiling Dave Grohl. I can sleep in peace around Dave, he's not going to steal my money or my car, whereas I've been around musicians that demand you keep one eye open, or...they might have too many beers and then lord knows what will happen.
Sure, I write a lot about old songs and how they resonate. But in truth, it's always the new things that resonate most. The new and different is always more satisfying than the old and comfortable. And once you step out of your comfort zone, possibilities open up, there are new avenues to explore, whereas when you're stuck in a rut...
Rock is stuck in a rut.
4
So I'm Debbie Downer. Sorry.
But I know it when I see it, when I hear it. And I'm always looking for it.
Everybody's cutting everybody a break, everybody's afraid to offend anybody. Then again, Donald Trump is more rock than the rock stars. The image of rockers was built on lies. Half the stories that are legend never happened. I didn't want him elected, but I've got to say, Trump was so out of control the past few weeks that it was an amazing movie to watch. And the funny thing is people bought it! Just like they bought the rock stars of yore. They didn't scratch their heads and wonder...if there are no taxes on tips, no taxes on social security, and my tax rate goes down...HOW EXACTLY DOES THAT WORK?
They bought the myth, the image.
Then again, Trump was three-dimensional, unlike Kamala, who was presented in 2-D.
Springsteen is 2-D in "Road Diary." Massaged, handled, you learn almost nothing. You're presented with a hard-working saint, someone who is better than us who must be adored.
Oh, don't make me whip out my bona fides. I saw Bruce at the Bottom Line in 1974, the year before "Born to Run," when the "Jungleland" he played had not yet been released on wax. I played "Candy's Room" at full volume on my first date with my ex-wife. I told all those women in the AOL chat rooms I was looking for the human touch.
But I can question my heroes.
Bruce has been subsumed by his image. And his handlers are keeping him from reality.
There's a business in delivering the old hits.
But it doesn't change the world.
And once rock did.
Once Bruce Springsteen did. An album of demos that was mastered from a cassette? "Nebraska" was a risk, there's no risk in "Road Diary," and no buzz either, because who other than diehard fans needs to see it, and even they don't need to see it. Why even put it out? We're looking for art, not commerce.
Kitty is definitely not back in "Road Diary."
But we're still waiting for her to reappear.
But in this movie Bruce ain't giving us much hope.
And he's one of the last people standing.
I need to believe, I'm looking for belief, I'm looking for something new and different that touches my soul, illuminates the path forward.
And "Road Diary" ain't it.
--
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Thursday 7 November 2024
Jon Cohen-This Week's Podcast
Majordomo of the Cornerstone Agency, Cornerstone Management, the Fader...
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jon-cohen/id1316200737?i=1000676048095
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1z72IxruKIlrAv7nlIVkBn?si=P9lxgzzmSHieAVTskmllDw
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/jon-cohen-235828065/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jon-cohen/id1316200737?i=1000676048095
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1z72IxruKIlrAv7nlIVkBn?si=P9lxgzzmSHieAVTskmllDw
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/jon-cohen-235828065/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
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Wednesday 6 November 2024
Celebrity Endorsements
I guess music can't change the world.
Or to put it another way, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
Yes, in the sixties, there was a youthquake, and who did you look to for answers? MUSICIANS! Even the Beatles sang about revolution, and the Jefferson Airplane asked for volunteers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang about Ohio (although that was 1970...)
In other words, music doesn't hold the same place in society. Doesn't have the same meaning, the same power.
Even though everybody in the industry will claim otherwise, just like the press could not see the massive wave of support for Trump.
Sure, the "New York Times" could get rid of Biden, but it's got no cultural impact. If anything, it's more powerful in gaming! Then again, there's a greater thrill in Wordle and Connections than there is in today's music. And games are inherently participatory, the essence of today's society. And give the "Times" credit for diversifying, people are even purchasing subscriptions to Cooking... Then again, food is so exciting that people shoot pictures of it.
How come nobody can admit things have changed?
Oh that Taylor Swift, she's going to endorse Harris and it's gonna be over, Trump is toast!
No, Taylor Swift is a niche act. A large niche, but she doesn't reach everyone, not even close. But we keep being plied with story after story about her in the media. Then again, most of them are about money. Are you really going to take instruction from a billionaire? She's going to be fine no matter who is president.
Ditto Bruce Springsteen. You sell your rights for in excess of $500 million and you want to be seen as a man of the people, shilling for Harris by playing a song that was a hit forty years ago, that had no meaning back then either? "Dancing in the Dark"? That's where Democrats are today. Even Kamala couldn't accept any responsibility today. Just hope and believe and put your head down and work, to quote Joni Mitchell, "where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar."
Taylor Swift is not Joni Mitchell. Nor is Gracie Abrams. But if you pay attention to the media, you'd think otherwise. And you're really going to believe that Swift has your best interests at heart when she releases dozens of versions of the same damn album just so she can say she's number one? This isn't a woman of the people, this is a NARCISSIST!
As for Beyonce... Don't they call her "Queen Bey"? Maybe that's all you've got to know.
One after another musician came out in support of Kamala and it didn't move the needle whatsoever.
Then again, the middle class has been hollowed out. Those running the DNC ended up on the right side of the financial divide, and forgot about everybody on the wrong side.
Now you can take a stand in your songs, in your life, but chances are you're going to forgo a good percentage of your possible audience if you do so. Almost no one will take this risk today, even though everybody is not going to like you anyway. Acts are behaving like business people, Bezos and Soon-Shiong, instead of telling those who disagree with them to stay home.
And back in the day, musicians were as rich as anybody in America.
Then again, nobody was that rich back then. Then Reagan unleashed greed and tax rates were lowered and one thing is for sure in today's America, no one can take anything from anybody, rich or poor, so don't expect any change. Hell, they can't even get rid of the carried interest rule!
And if you don't know that is... It shows you don't know where the real money is. Which you aren't required to be aware of, but if you want to foment change, go deep into business as opposed to listening to the non-speak of Kamala Harris, who is afraid of alienating anybody who is not a dyed-in-the-wool Trumper. Meanwhile, Trump has an edge and he emerges victorious. Doesn't this tell you all you need to know?
Trump is more edgy, more out there, more in your face, MORE ENTERTAINING, than any musical act. So Taylor Swift sings and dances for hours, believe me, listening to Trump, however inane he might be, has more entertainment value.
Back in the sixties successful musicians were us. The hoi polloi. They even wore their jeans on stage, just like us. They didn't demand coronation, we gave it to them because we believed they deserved it.
Musical acts haven't had that power since the internet. Because their true identities have been revealed, and most have turned out to be uneducated nitwits. The rockers of yore quoted Hesse and Kafka, today's acts just keep talking about the extensions of their brand, trying you to buy more crap so they can get richer. What has this got to do with politics, belief? NOTHING!
We only care what you say if you're living that life 24/7. If you later just tell us to do what I say... Why? You can't even understand ticketing! That's what I loved about the Oasis kerfuffle, they didn't even understand the landscape they were operating in, do you expect me, or anyone, to take political advice from the Gallagher brothers? OF COURSE NOT!
But all we heard in left wing media was adulation for people who can sell tickets but can't sell their ideas.
People see today's music as entertainment.
And what is purveyed by the majors is anything but new and edgy.
And all the wankers believing Spotify's the problem. Do you think Trump voters believe if you declare yourself a musician you're entitled to earn a living playing music? Where is truth, where is reality?
The musicians abdicated their power long ago. The same media telling you to put down your smartphone is telling you musicians can move the needle, when they can't.
Then again, if you're Elon Musk or Joe Rogan... Their fans BELIEVE IN THEM! And it's all about who they are and what they stand for, and their impact and financial success!
Whereas all musicians can do is whine. It's always somebody's else's fault.
God, the entire Democratic party is made up of whiners.
It's always somebody else's fault. The system is rigged against them.
And the funny thing is the bleeding heart liberals standing up for minorities who ultimately disagree with them. Latin people? They don't like Latinx. The most feminist blowback I get is from white males. We live in a no offense world. God, that school in New York taking a day off so its students could cope with the election results? Jerry Seinfeld stood up to that. We can't get a musician to stand up for anything unless everybody in the industry signs their name, which almost never happens anyway.
The musicians are complaining about Spotify and AI and meanwhile, I don't know where my next meal is coming from, my car was repossessed and I can't get to work. You say you understand but then you keep telling me I'm wrong. You'll tell me the economy is booming and maybe give me a handout, but address the underlying issues? OF COURSE NOT!
It's simple but the Democrats make it complicated.
And the musicians will only show up if it makes them look good, burnishes their image. Take a stand outside the norm? Then again, we live in an industry rife with sexual abuse and no one will take a stand against it, companies just pay and have the abused sign an NDA.
I don't want to be one of those right wing bloviators telling you not to pay attention to mainstream media. Then again, I'm separating fact from opinion. Only the big time media has boots on the ground. But their heads are up their ass. Reporters think they're doing god's work and they can't be wrong. After all, they're underpaid! But the right is not sympathetic, they'd tell the writers to go where the money is, just like Sam Kinison told starving Africans to go where the food is!
So let's recap. The music industry lost control of the hearts and minds of the public decades ago. And put the knife in its own heart with Napster. It not only wouldn't give the public what it wanted, IT SUED THEM!
Then labels would only sign acts that sounded just like the ones already successful, in fewer genres than ever before. You're not giving me what I want and I should pay attention? This is why Netflix is so successful. Sure, they've got some brain dead shows appealing to many, but I keep up my subscription because of the quality niche shows, which have a fraction of the viewership.
And the acts... Anybody with money and a brain doesn't become a musician. Odds of success are too low. So we're left with the lower classes, who'll do anything their handlers want them to, unlike the acts of yore who needed to do it their way.
So let's get off our high horse and admit that Taylor Swift, BTS, even BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, do not represent what once was. It's apples and oranges. Don't tell me about chart positions and Grammy awards, there's no ubiquity, certainly for almost all twenty first century acts.
What do you stand for?
I can't even tell you who Kamala Harris is, and most people agreed with me, and that's why she lost.
If you stand for something that means you're willing to leave money on the table...in an era where no one leaves money on the table. The musicians used to be different, now they're just like all the rest of America, money-grubbers.
So, I'm not a Republican, I'm not switching sides, I don't endorse Trump or sexual abuse, I believe everybody is entitled to a roof over their head and food on their plate, and health care too!
But to succeed in life you have to take your lumps, lose sometimes. Today's coddled progeny of the upper middle class and beyond can't handle the truth. There are trigger warnings, if you get their pronouns wrong they lose their sh*t. Yes, I believe you should be entitled to your abortion, but that does not mean everything you believe is true, that you can't look yourself in the mirror and see your flaws. And if you can't admit your flaws, you can't improve. And improvement leads to success.
Life in America is hard. The road to the top in music is longer with worse odds than ever before. So most people don't even get started.
It takes a special kind of person to change the world, and Taylor Swift is not it.
And I dare say at this point Bruce Springsteen is not it either.
And most people in Nashville are afraid to choose sides, won't venture an opinion in public, but at least they make the most honest music, that is palatable to and understood by many.
And to bring it up one more time...
The biggest act in recorded music is not Taylor Swift, but Morgan Wallen. But seemingly every Democrat cannot forgive him for uttering a word that's in so many rap records that were sold to him by the industry. Furthermore, HE WAS DRUINK! Whenever I write about him...
People bring up this incident. Call Morgan a dumb hick.
There's some evidence right there why Trump won. Do you think all the people paying good bread to see Wallen in stadiums think they're ignorant? I'm sure not. But the Democrats keep telling so many Americans over and over again how they're wrong and have their heads up their rear ends.
Then there are the people making fun of the Trump voters all over my computer today. Seems like even in the wake of this loss Democrats can't learn anything.
Things are not the same as they always were.
Time to wake up.
--
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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Or to put it another way, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
Yes, in the sixties, there was a youthquake, and who did you look to for answers? MUSICIANS! Even the Beatles sang about revolution, and the Jefferson Airplane asked for volunteers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang about Ohio (although that was 1970...)
In other words, music doesn't hold the same place in society. Doesn't have the same meaning, the same power.
Even though everybody in the industry will claim otherwise, just like the press could not see the massive wave of support for Trump.
Sure, the "New York Times" could get rid of Biden, but it's got no cultural impact. If anything, it's more powerful in gaming! Then again, there's a greater thrill in Wordle and Connections than there is in today's music. And games are inherently participatory, the essence of today's society. And give the "Times" credit for diversifying, people are even purchasing subscriptions to Cooking... Then again, food is so exciting that people shoot pictures of it.
How come nobody can admit things have changed?
Oh that Taylor Swift, she's going to endorse Harris and it's gonna be over, Trump is toast!
No, Taylor Swift is a niche act. A large niche, but she doesn't reach everyone, not even close. But we keep being plied with story after story about her in the media. Then again, most of them are about money. Are you really going to take instruction from a billionaire? She's going to be fine no matter who is president.
Ditto Bruce Springsteen. You sell your rights for in excess of $500 million and you want to be seen as a man of the people, shilling for Harris by playing a song that was a hit forty years ago, that had no meaning back then either? "Dancing in the Dark"? That's where Democrats are today. Even Kamala couldn't accept any responsibility today. Just hope and believe and put your head down and work, to quote Joni Mitchell, "where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar."
Taylor Swift is not Joni Mitchell. Nor is Gracie Abrams. But if you pay attention to the media, you'd think otherwise. And you're really going to believe that Swift has your best interests at heart when she releases dozens of versions of the same damn album just so she can say she's number one? This isn't a woman of the people, this is a NARCISSIST!
As for Beyonce... Don't they call her "Queen Bey"? Maybe that's all you've got to know.
One after another musician came out in support of Kamala and it didn't move the needle whatsoever.
Then again, the middle class has been hollowed out. Those running the DNC ended up on the right side of the financial divide, and forgot about everybody on the wrong side.
Now you can take a stand in your songs, in your life, but chances are you're going to forgo a good percentage of your possible audience if you do so. Almost no one will take this risk today, even though everybody is not going to like you anyway. Acts are behaving like business people, Bezos and Soon-Shiong, instead of telling those who disagree with them to stay home.
And back in the day, musicians were as rich as anybody in America.
Then again, nobody was that rich back then. Then Reagan unleashed greed and tax rates were lowered and one thing is for sure in today's America, no one can take anything from anybody, rich or poor, so don't expect any change. Hell, they can't even get rid of the carried interest rule!
And if you don't know that is... It shows you don't know where the real money is. Which you aren't required to be aware of, but if you want to foment change, go deep into business as opposed to listening to the non-speak of Kamala Harris, who is afraid of alienating anybody who is not a dyed-in-the-wool Trumper. Meanwhile, Trump has an edge and he emerges victorious. Doesn't this tell you all you need to know?
Trump is more edgy, more out there, more in your face, MORE ENTERTAINING, than any musical act. So Taylor Swift sings and dances for hours, believe me, listening to Trump, however inane he might be, has more entertainment value.
Back in the sixties successful musicians were us. The hoi polloi. They even wore their jeans on stage, just like us. They didn't demand coronation, we gave it to them because we believed they deserved it.
Musical acts haven't had that power since the internet. Because their true identities have been revealed, and most have turned out to be uneducated nitwits. The rockers of yore quoted Hesse and Kafka, today's acts just keep talking about the extensions of their brand, trying you to buy more crap so they can get richer. What has this got to do with politics, belief? NOTHING!
We only care what you say if you're living that life 24/7. If you later just tell us to do what I say... Why? You can't even understand ticketing! That's what I loved about the Oasis kerfuffle, they didn't even understand the landscape they were operating in, do you expect me, or anyone, to take political advice from the Gallagher brothers? OF COURSE NOT!
But all we heard in left wing media was adulation for people who can sell tickets but can't sell their ideas.
People see today's music as entertainment.
And what is purveyed by the majors is anything but new and edgy.
And all the wankers believing Spotify's the problem. Do you think Trump voters believe if you declare yourself a musician you're entitled to earn a living playing music? Where is truth, where is reality?
The musicians abdicated their power long ago. The same media telling you to put down your smartphone is telling you musicians can move the needle, when they can't.
Then again, if you're Elon Musk or Joe Rogan... Their fans BELIEVE IN THEM! And it's all about who they are and what they stand for, and their impact and financial success!
Whereas all musicians can do is whine. It's always somebody's else's fault.
God, the entire Democratic party is made up of whiners.
It's always somebody else's fault. The system is rigged against them.
And the funny thing is the bleeding heart liberals standing up for minorities who ultimately disagree with them. Latin people? They don't like Latinx. The most feminist blowback I get is from white males. We live in a no offense world. God, that school in New York taking a day off so its students could cope with the election results? Jerry Seinfeld stood up to that. We can't get a musician to stand up for anything unless everybody in the industry signs their name, which almost never happens anyway.
The musicians are complaining about Spotify and AI and meanwhile, I don't know where my next meal is coming from, my car was repossessed and I can't get to work. You say you understand but then you keep telling me I'm wrong. You'll tell me the economy is booming and maybe give me a handout, but address the underlying issues? OF COURSE NOT!
It's simple but the Democrats make it complicated.
And the musicians will only show up if it makes them look good, burnishes their image. Take a stand outside the norm? Then again, we live in an industry rife with sexual abuse and no one will take a stand against it, companies just pay and have the abused sign an NDA.
I don't want to be one of those right wing bloviators telling you not to pay attention to mainstream media. Then again, I'm separating fact from opinion. Only the big time media has boots on the ground. But their heads are up their ass. Reporters think they're doing god's work and they can't be wrong. After all, they're underpaid! But the right is not sympathetic, they'd tell the writers to go where the money is, just like Sam Kinison told starving Africans to go where the food is!
So let's recap. The music industry lost control of the hearts and minds of the public decades ago. And put the knife in its own heart with Napster. It not only wouldn't give the public what it wanted, IT SUED THEM!
Then labels would only sign acts that sounded just like the ones already successful, in fewer genres than ever before. You're not giving me what I want and I should pay attention? This is why Netflix is so successful. Sure, they've got some brain dead shows appealing to many, but I keep up my subscription because of the quality niche shows, which have a fraction of the viewership.
And the acts... Anybody with money and a brain doesn't become a musician. Odds of success are too low. So we're left with the lower classes, who'll do anything their handlers want them to, unlike the acts of yore who needed to do it their way.
So let's get off our high horse and admit that Taylor Swift, BTS, even BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, do not represent what once was. It's apples and oranges. Don't tell me about chart positions and Grammy awards, there's no ubiquity, certainly for almost all twenty first century acts.
What do you stand for?
I can't even tell you who Kamala Harris is, and most people agreed with me, and that's why she lost.
If you stand for something that means you're willing to leave money on the table...in an era where no one leaves money on the table. The musicians used to be different, now they're just like all the rest of America, money-grubbers.
So, I'm not a Republican, I'm not switching sides, I don't endorse Trump or sexual abuse, I believe everybody is entitled to a roof over their head and food on their plate, and health care too!
But to succeed in life you have to take your lumps, lose sometimes. Today's coddled progeny of the upper middle class and beyond can't handle the truth. There are trigger warnings, if you get their pronouns wrong they lose their sh*t. Yes, I believe you should be entitled to your abortion, but that does not mean everything you believe is true, that you can't look yourself in the mirror and see your flaws. And if you can't admit your flaws, you can't improve. And improvement leads to success.
Life in America is hard. The road to the top in music is longer with worse odds than ever before. So most people don't even get started.
It takes a special kind of person to change the world, and Taylor Swift is not it.
And I dare say at this point Bruce Springsteen is not it either.
And most people in Nashville are afraid to choose sides, won't venture an opinion in public, but at least they make the most honest music, that is palatable to and understood by many.
And to bring it up one more time...
The biggest act in recorded music is not Taylor Swift, but Morgan Wallen. But seemingly every Democrat cannot forgive him for uttering a word that's in so many rap records that were sold to him by the industry. Furthermore, HE WAS DRUINK! Whenever I write about him...
People bring up this incident. Call Morgan a dumb hick.
There's some evidence right there why Trump won. Do you think all the people paying good bread to see Wallen in stadiums think they're ignorant? I'm sure not. But the Democrats keep telling so many Americans over and over again how they're wrong and have their heads up their rear ends.
Then there are the people making fun of the Trump voters all over my computer today. Seems like even in the wake of this loss Democrats can't learn anything.
Things are not the same as they always were.
Time to wake up.
--
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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--
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Tuesday 5 November 2024
The Election
It should not be this close.
Not that it's over. We mut remember 2018, when we went to bed and thought the Democrats had done poorly, but in the ensuing days found out the opposite.
But if Harris loses...
We have to blame Joe Biden, and the DNC.
When Joe Biden announced that he was stepping down, I instantly took to my computer and wrote that Kamala Harris should not be the candidate. My inbox went BERSERK! I have never seen so much vitriol in response to any piece I have ever written.
Now when I wrote it, I didn't know that the selection of Kamala Harris was a fait accompli, I held out hope for a runoff process, a shortened campaign, amongst all those who wanted to throw their hat in the ring. As did James Carville and Ezra Klein. I was not out on the precipice alone.
But instantly there was a tsunami of support for Harris. And, once again, I couldn't say a negative thing about her, whether it be in print or conversation. I was taking all the air out of the bubble, I was Debbie Downer, can't we just enjoy it, she's so fabulous, she's going to win.
And if you go back to that July 21st article, and you can right here...
""No to Kamala": https://t.ly/M40Kq
You'll find that I had three main points:
1. How poorly Harris did in 2020.
2. She's cold.
3. She's tarred by Biden's record.
I thought it should be Whitmer or Shapiro. They'd be fresh meat, they wouldn't be blasted on immigration, accused of doing little. There would not be talk of the national economy... It would be a fresh slate.
BUT NO!
Everybody on the inside knew better, and their minions agreed with them.
God, it reminds me of nothing so much as Napster. The record industry was disrupted and didn't see it coming and wouldn't admit internet distribution of music was the future. The industry kicked and screamed, sued its own customers, until Spotify came along fifteen years ago to save the industry from a death spiral.
Interesting. Shawn Fanning and Daniel Ek. Both considered pariahs by musicians today.
Let's see... There was a great story in "The New Yorker" a few years back about how ideas are in the air. Darwin had a competitor. And that person could have been the household name. Music was coming to the internet, Napster was just the first step.
But if you listen to the Democrats, the internet is the enemy. You don't hear Donald Trump and Elon Musk telling people to put down their smartphone. And while the Democrats kept saying it was about the ground game, Trump had little and as of this writing he's winning.
Not that the losing team will accept any blame. Will endure a postmortem. I don't expect a Capitol riot by the Democrats, a denial of the results, but I do expect them to blame Trump's voters for their ignorance, exculpating themselves from any and all blame.
When in truth they're the enemy, they're the problem, they're the fault.
Let's be clear, if Trump succeeds, it will not be about his winning strategy, but the Democrats' losing one. They handed it to him on a platter.
They kept on telling struggling Americans that the economy was good. Despite the entire nation being hurt by inflation.
And Trump may lie 24/7, but at least he knows it's all about perception. The truth is secondary.
So what happens now?
I live in the excoriated California. Which most of the nation has been convinced is a hellhole, with swarms of homeless people. Think about that, the homeless people got SMART! They left New York and Chicago and their bitter winters, they escaped the heat and humidity of the south to come to a place where the weather is always good. The fact that all the homeless came to L.A. is an indication of the health, the bona fides, the sheer greatness of the city. Is homelessness a problem, does it need to be addressed? Absolutely! But our nation has flipped. Everybody's out for themselves. And, if you don't obey the orthodoxy of the left, you're done for.
So we can get abortions in California. Unlike in North Carolina, builders didn't lobby elected officials to build on floodplains. We keep hearing about all those damn regulations. Believe me, you want those regs during an earthquake.
The pronouns. The trigger warnings. The pro-Palestinian nonsense.
John Oliver did a whole piece on Sunday trying to convince Muslims to vote for Harris, even though she had a different vision for the Middle East than the one they wanted. How myopic, and how antisemitic. What about speaking to all the Jews who voted for Trump because he was strong on Israel?
Don't go tit for tat, don't tell me about Trump's position on Ukraine.
But if you're working hard to make ends meet do you want to listen to college graduates who make more money telling you how to live your life? Not accepting that things aren't fantastic, despite the market soaring and soaring?
I'm just angering the same people convinced Harris was the one.
As for Walz... Turned out to be the biggest boondoggle of the campaign. Sure, he was warm and fuzzy, but watching the debate you could never say you wanted this guy a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Not that Kamala has shown a ton of leadership experience, which Whitmer and Shapiro have done.
Now in the coming days there's going to be a lot of analysis of Kamala's projected loss. And one thing is for sure, those involved won't accept blame. They just can't believe that they are the problem.
But they are.
We were told we had it in the bag because of women, who would come out in droves because of abortion.
That hasn't happened. Just like no one seems to vote for a Democrat for fear of having a new Republican Supreme Court justice. And now RBG's entire legacy has been tainted, she was selfish. Politics is a team sport. And Biden? He was one step into the grave right in front of our eyes, but he and his team still thought he should continue running. Don't tell me to deny what I see with my own vision.
So what happens now?
I don't want to fathom it.
But I'm angry at the holier-than-thou people who keep shutting me down and who refuse to address the underlying issues. And Joe Rogan agreed to interview Harris, but she couldn't go to Austin to see him, she'd rather spend time in Bucks County. Didn't they realize how many people Rogan speaks to? This again is the fallacy. That it's all about retail politics, one on one, but that went out with the last century. Once again, we live in a digital world, and you exploit online. Hell, X/Twitter has become Trump central. Democrats just complained. Republicans can get their minions not to drink Bud Light, but the left can't even get all their people to go to Threads, or some other social media platform.
The problem is you. Yup, you. You thought you knew better. People can't make it on minimum wage, all the manufacturing jobs were shipped abroad and these workers are now doing service jobs, and I'm not saying Clinton shouldn't have signed NAFTA, but there was no provision for the people who were squeezed by it, no way to bring them back into the economy with good jobs.
The Democrats remind me of all those people who can't stop bitching about Ticketmaster, even though the tickets are expensive because that's how the acts like them, and you're paying the freight. If people can't get it straight about this simple concept, understand where the fees go, what are the odds they can truly understand why Trump can win? No, they'll just assign blame and wash their hands.
The future keeps rolling down the pike. You must adjust for it.
The Democrats are living in a fantasyland, whether Harris wins or not.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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--
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Not that it's over. We mut remember 2018, when we went to bed and thought the Democrats had done poorly, but in the ensuing days found out the opposite.
But if Harris loses...
We have to blame Joe Biden, and the DNC.
When Joe Biden announced that he was stepping down, I instantly took to my computer and wrote that Kamala Harris should not be the candidate. My inbox went BERSERK! I have never seen so much vitriol in response to any piece I have ever written.
Now when I wrote it, I didn't know that the selection of Kamala Harris was a fait accompli, I held out hope for a runoff process, a shortened campaign, amongst all those who wanted to throw their hat in the ring. As did James Carville and Ezra Klein. I was not out on the precipice alone.
But instantly there was a tsunami of support for Harris. And, once again, I couldn't say a negative thing about her, whether it be in print or conversation. I was taking all the air out of the bubble, I was Debbie Downer, can't we just enjoy it, she's so fabulous, she's going to win.
And if you go back to that July 21st article, and you can right here...
""No to Kamala": https://t.ly/M40Kq
You'll find that I had three main points:
1. How poorly Harris did in 2020.
2. She's cold.
3. She's tarred by Biden's record.
I thought it should be Whitmer or Shapiro. They'd be fresh meat, they wouldn't be blasted on immigration, accused of doing little. There would not be talk of the national economy... It would be a fresh slate.
BUT NO!
Everybody on the inside knew better, and their minions agreed with them.
God, it reminds me of nothing so much as Napster. The record industry was disrupted and didn't see it coming and wouldn't admit internet distribution of music was the future. The industry kicked and screamed, sued its own customers, until Spotify came along fifteen years ago to save the industry from a death spiral.
Interesting. Shawn Fanning and Daniel Ek. Both considered pariahs by musicians today.
Let's see... There was a great story in "The New Yorker" a few years back about how ideas are in the air. Darwin had a competitor. And that person could have been the household name. Music was coming to the internet, Napster was just the first step.
But if you listen to the Democrats, the internet is the enemy. You don't hear Donald Trump and Elon Musk telling people to put down their smartphone. And while the Democrats kept saying it was about the ground game, Trump had little and as of this writing he's winning.
Not that the losing team will accept any blame. Will endure a postmortem. I don't expect a Capitol riot by the Democrats, a denial of the results, but I do expect them to blame Trump's voters for their ignorance, exculpating themselves from any and all blame.
When in truth they're the enemy, they're the problem, they're the fault.
Let's be clear, if Trump succeeds, it will not be about his winning strategy, but the Democrats' losing one. They handed it to him on a platter.
They kept on telling struggling Americans that the economy was good. Despite the entire nation being hurt by inflation.
And Trump may lie 24/7, but at least he knows it's all about perception. The truth is secondary.
So what happens now?
I live in the excoriated California. Which most of the nation has been convinced is a hellhole, with swarms of homeless people. Think about that, the homeless people got SMART! They left New York and Chicago and their bitter winters, they escaped the heat and humidity of the south to come to a place where the weather is always good. The fact that all the homeless came to L.A. is an indication of the health, the bona fides, the sheer greatness of the city. Is homelessness a problem, does it need to be addressed? Absolutely! But our nation has flipped. Everybody's out for themselves. And, if you don't obey the orthodoxy of the left, you're done for.
So we can get abortions in California. Unlike in North Carolina, builders didn't lobby elected officials to build on floodplains. We keep hearing about all those damn regulations. Believe me, you want those regs during an earthquake.
The pronouns. The trigger warnings. The pro-Palestinian nonsense.
John Oliver did a whole piece on Sunday trying to convince Muslims to vote for Harris, even though she had a different vision for the Middle East than the one they wanted. How myopic, and how antisemitic. What about speaking to all the Jews who voted for Trump because he was strong on Israel?
Don't go tit for tat, don't tell me about Trump's position on Ukraine.
But if you're working hard to make ends meet do you want to listen to college graduates who make more money telling you how to live your life? Not accepting that things aren't fantastic, despite the market soaring and soaring?
I'm just angering the same people convinced Harris was the one.
As for Walz... Turned out to be the biggest boondoggle of the campaign. Sure, he was warm and fuzzy, but watching the debate you could never say you wanted this guy a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Not that Kamala has shown a ton of leadership experience, which Whitmer and Shapiro have done.
Now in the coming days there's going to be a lot of analysis of Kamala's projected loss. And one thing is for sure, those involved won't accept blame. They just can't believe that they are the problem.
But they are.
We were told we had it in the bag because of women, who would come out in droves because of abortion.
That hasn't happened. Just like no one seems to vote for a Democrat for fear of having a new Republican Supreme Court justice. And now RBG's entire legacy has been tainted, she was selfish. Politics is a team sport. And Biden? He was one step into the grave right in front of our eyes, but he and his team still thought he should continue running. Don't tell me to deny what I see with my own vision.
So what happens now?
I don't want to fathom it.
But I'm angry at the holier-than-thou people who keep shutting me down and who refuse to address the underlying issues. And Joe Rogan agreed to interview Harris, but she couldn't go to Austin to see him, she'd rather spend time in Bucks County. Didn't they realize how many people Rogan speaks to? This again is the fallacy. That it's all about retail politics, one on one, but that went out with the last century. Once again, we live in a digital world, and you exploit online. Hell, X/Twitter has become Trump central. Democrats just complained. Republicans can get their minions not to drink Bud Light, but the left can't even get all their people to go to Threads, or some other social media platform.
The problem is you. Yup, you. You thought you knew better. People can't make it on minimum wage, all the manufacturing jobs were shipped abroad and these workers are now doing service jobs, and I'm not saying Clinton shouldn't have signed NAFTA, but there was no provision for the people who were squeezed by it, no way to bring them back into the economy with good jobs.
The Democrats remind me of all those people who can't stop bitching about Ticketmaster, even though the tickets are expensive because that's how the acts like them, and you're paying the freight. If people can't get it straight about this simple concept, understand where the fees go, what are the odds they can truly understand why Trump can win? No, they'll just assign blame and wash their hands.
The future keeps rolling down the pike. You must adjust for it.
The Democrats are living in a fantasyland, whether Harris wins or not.
--
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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More Clubs
Bob I've been saying it for 10 years now. Virtually no artist making it big these days played live before they were famous.
Also, human nature is to take the shortest path to a goal involving the fewest other people. Make music on your laptop by yourself, post it, hope someone notices. Rinse and repeat.
That's the world today.
Best,
Michael McCarty
CEO
Kilometre Music Group
____________________________________
An unpopular opinion for sure, but this is one of the best/concise sentences I've read recently…
"We can have nostalgia for the past. But that does not mean we should legislate its continued existence."
As you say below, there are a number of factors contributing to these closures; poor understanding of the needs of new audiences, a cost of living crisis (why spend £50 on a night out when you can save a little and head to a festival for the weekend for a much bigger experience), plus local authority intervention.
Mark Jennings
____________________________________
Right you are, Bob
One of the other phenomenon in the "jazz club" world is that the ones that survive (like the Jazz Bakery in LA and The Sound Room in Oakland) are run as non-profit organizations by people that love and believe in the music.
Others (like Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood) have expanded their booking to cabaret, comedy or other niche areas of the business.
Any way you slice it, the performer needs to have a decent following to fill the room or it is a losing proposition for all involved.
I am glad I am a performer and not a club owner!!!!
George Kahn
____________________________________
HARTMANN'S LAW - If it aint good live, dump it!
You are correct, Sir. It is a digital game. The raison d'etre for nightclubs is to sell booze. But, smokers are rarely drinkers, and all the girls are online. The value of clubs is as incubators for artists to invest the 10,000 hours it takes to create a good repertoire and show. The threshold for entry is very low, However, the degree of difficulty is mired in the hard truth: 10% of the competitors earn 100% of the money, and 1% of those earn 90% of the dough. Only true greatness can win. And a great live act is imperative.
Rock 'til you drop,
Hartmann
____________________________________
I think there's a difference between wanting to see live music and wanting to go to a club. Increasingly, I'm seeing more and more venues that aren't "clubs" per se, but do host music. City Winery is a good example. As far as I can tell, the one here in Nashville is doing quite well. For the past several months, my wife went to see live music somewhere on an average of once a week. None of it involved going to clubs.
When something's not working, you can close it down. Or, you can reinvent it.
Craig Anderton
____________________________________
You're spot on. The club scene is all but dead and I don't think it ever really existed in my life or the time I spent playing clubs. I spent over 12 years (2010 to 2023) playing clubs in New England as an indie band. And it was a slog of an experience. Did I love playing with my band? Yes. Absolutely. Did we get better the more we played? Of course. Would people come to see us at 11PM on a cold Wednesday night in Boston? No! I barely wanted to be there! But I was always told you gotta play the bad slots to get to the good slots. The music industry, now that I think about it, isn't that far off from gambling. But that's for another time.
The last show my band played was in January 2023. I remember waiting around until 2AM to get, like, $120 - and split it four ways. The rest of my band went home shortly after our set, but someone had to stick around for the little cash we'd get. It was my band so I stuck around.
I'd leave my apartment around 6PM and get home after 2AM, to play for however many people (anywhere from 2 to 200 people depending on the night), for crumbs. It's not even about the money for me. But the time. I would bring a book and hide in the corner somewhere while other bands played because I didn't care about them. I was on this trajectory because I grew up hearing, "You gotta play live - sometimes to no one - and pay your dues. Then you'll get a big fat record contract." Well, needless to say, the former happened but the latter did not. Oh there were chances, but bands are hard. My singers would quit at the most inopportune times. And that's why I started singing because I wanted a band and needed consistency.
But I digress.
I'm not sorry about any of it, but I know I missed the heyday of the club scene. And I'm kind of sad I did. But at the same time, I have never once gone to a random show at a random club to hear a random act. So why would I have gone had I been born at a different time? I remember thinking I was a problem within my ecosystem/community because I wasn't super invested in the scene. I also don't drink, so going to a club or a bar for a show is even less appealing.
I like to think my band was good, and at a different time, it would have been different. But who knows? If anyone wants to listen - www.amymantis.com/music - you can judge for yourself. (Feel free to take this link out if you share this in a mailbag. I'm not here to convince you I should be famous or whatever, but I'm sharing it as proof that I really gave it a go.)
Another thing is that there are so many more options for entertainment now! Do you want to go sit in a loud, dirty room listening to (often) mediocre bands you've never heard of? Or do you want to stay home and watch a great movie or TV show? Or, if you're like me, you go to plenty of concerts - but for artists you know and love and trust. Last weekend, my boyfriend and I saw Duran Duran. They were fantastic! Over the last year or so we've seen John Mayer, Tedeschi Trucks (the best live band IMO), the Stones, Springsteen, Queen + Adam Lambert, Janet Jackson, Ringo Starr, and Duran Duran. I might be missing a few, but you can see what they have in common (with the exception of Tedeschi Trucks, but those that know, know).
We live in an interesting time. And while I do believe that people want to socialize, they don't want to socialize at clubs and bars with live music and bad food - if they have food at all.
Live music will persist. It's just going to be a very different scene than it was back in the day.
It already is.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Yours in music,
Amy Mantis
PS - while I may no longer be slugging it out on the non-existent club circuit, I'm by no means "done" as a musician or songwriter. I've pivoted to other musical endeavors because if I didn't play music, I think I would die. I thought I would die if I didn't "make it," but since I'm still here at the old age of 34, I think I'll be okay.
____________________________________
Bob,
I could not disagree more with this.
First you are factually incorrect about Sam Smith, he played small and the large clubs in the US in 2013 and 2014 and only started in headlining Arenas in the US in 2015, if you first heard him in 2015 it might look like he started in Arenas.
If you look at Olivia Rodrigo or Sabrina Carpenter; they were both developed with millions spent by Disney. This isn't a new model, as old as time. Not to take away from either of them, but their success is built of years of hard work and real INVESTMENT in them. The internet didn't make them. They were not overnight. Their model is not one that many new artists have a chance at. And it is not anything like what you incorrectly say happened to Sam Smith.
But I think you fundamentally misunderstand the role of small clubs in an artist's career. Small clubs are not the most important discovery outlet for new artists. You are right on that. The Internet is where the buzz builds. Clubs are where new artists LEARN how to be live artists. Where they learn their voice. Learn their craft. And learn stage presence. Learn how to speak to their audience, or even who their audience is. Often lots of this goes on without most people noticing.
You say "And don't confuse Chappell Roan with the club business." How is years of touring in clubs NOT part of her story? She played my 300 cap The Rebel Lounge twice opening for other acts, starting in 2017, SEVEN YEARS AGO. I saw her headline the 500 cap here and it was good. You say "She made it by opening for a superstar, she was in front of all those eyeballs." But why did she stand out to those eyeballs? It's because by the time she got those slots she had EXPERIENCE. She was ready. She had earned their attention. Everyone has seen that video of her playing Pink Pony Club in a park for 50 people. If you watch that video you would not say "This is a supper start," no one sent that video to their friends at the time, it didn't go vira then. But if you are used to developing talent you see it and know SOMETHING is there. But if you saw her at a festival this summer (I got to see Outside Lands) you saw a STAR. The difference between those performances isn't the internet. It is hard work she put in on stage. If you put the girl from the park on stage in front of 75K people at Lollapalooza she wouldn't have been ready for it and we wouldn't be talking about her. Just compare that video in the park to her on SNL last weekend. It is the same song but the performance is categorically different, and that is due to her hard work. Thinking about Chappell Roan as some overnight success really diminishes her hard work.
I have seen so many Sold Out shows in clubs in the last few years for artists that had a TikTok moment and most of those acts never came around again. I have seen too many sold out shows where the crowd is lethargic until the "one" song comes and everyone pulls out their phones. So many of those acts suck live because their first show ever as a musician is on a sold out tour of house of blues or whatever large clubs, no one talks about them again or comes back because they were not ready. Fans know a bad performance when they see it. The internet can get a crowd to come one time, they get to say they saw the meme of the moment, but talent and skill win over a crowd and create fans. And you have to learn it. No one ever walks on stage day one with that.
On the other hand I have seen a ton of great artists that we had at Rebel that I have watched grow into great artists and when they have their viral moment people come and see them and are blown away by what they see. They don't have one song, they have a full set, and more great songs than they can even fit in a set. And when these acts that have paid their dues and have their internet moment, the new online fans come to see them and those new fans know what they are seeing is real and they come back again and again and again.
We have had Mitski at Rebel 3 times, we had Charlie Crocket at Rebel 3 times, we had TV Girl there and had them in other small rooms, we had LANY, Khruangbin, Japanese Breakfast, Alex G, Louis The Child, Men I Trust and so many more. These are all great live acts that learned how to be great in clubs.
There are loads of acts with great streaming numbers that can't sell tickets. You can get streams without ever being good live. But if you look at the acts selling tickets right now they ALL started in small clubs.
Stephen Chilton
Psyko Steve Presents
The Rebel Lounge
____________________________________
Dear Mr. Lefsetz:
I write to respond to your letter, "Let the Clubs Close."
Independent stages, including clubs, are still the place where artists start their live careers. How do we know this? The best examples of why this is true are the artists you mention in your letter.
Before opening for a superstar, Chappell Roan played independent clubs like Cannery Ballroom and First Avenue in 2017; Music Box and Rebel Lounge in 2018; Bowery Ballroom and Troubadour in 2022; and 9:30 Club and The Crocodile in 2023.
Before he played arenas, Noah Kahan was an unsigned artist playing original material at independent clubs like The Broadberry and Le Poisson Rouge in 2017; Cat's Cradle and Metro in 2018; Neumos and Higher Ground in 2019; Beachland Ballroom and Orange Peel in 2021; and Washington's and The Depot in 2022.
Artists don't just appear on an arena stage overnight. More often than not, they start at an independent club.
And people show up to these shows, like they do every night (and some days) at independent stages across the country. For Chappell Roan and Noah Kahan, and so many other artists from every genre, starting in clubs can be hard, but it is not a fool's errand. Far from it.
The reason these artists are successful is because they work incredibly hard - and independent stages sacrifice to ensure they have a place to start and grow their careers. These mom and pop entrepreneurial businesses not only support artists, but collectively funnel billions a year into local economies and support thousands of small businesses in communities around them throughout the U.S.
However, like clubs in the U.K., independent venues and festivals in the U.S. are struggling - and closing. They are grappling with inflation, rising labor costs, astronomical insurance costs, alcohol permitting issues, ballooning rent payments, threats to public safety, transportation and parking issues for patrons, predatory resellers making life harder for them and their customers, and a global conglomerate promoter using anti-competitive practices that threaten their existence.
We have much to learn from what the U.K. is experiencing, but the most important lesson is this: our independent clubs, festivals, and promoters should be fighting for the same things here in the U.S., and that includes financial assistance from governments. Texas took a first step in 2022 to create a fund to ensure the financial security of independent venues and Tennessee created a similar fund earlier this year to help artists and stages. Every state and locality should be doing the same - and the multinational conglomerate using their market power to suppress competition should have a role in paying for them. We should legislate the continued existence of independent stages, including clubs.
It may have been a while since you went to an independent club, so I invite you to join me one night. I'll take you to a few. I'd love to remind you of what you may have known at one point: these cultural sanctuaries for fans and artists to connect over music and performance are a powerful force in every community that should be preserved. It's not just nostalgia. The authentic experience people have in these rooms is still the truth.
Stephen Parker
Executive Director
National Independent Venue Association
Also, human nature is to take the shortest path to a goal involving the fewest other people. Make music on your laptop by yourself, post it, hope someone notices. Rinse and repeat.
That's the world today.
Best,
Michael McCarty
CEO
Kilometre Music Group
____________________________________
An unpopular opinion for sure, but this is one of the best/concise sentences I've read recently…
"We can have nostalgia for the past. But that does not mean we should legislate its continued existence."
As you say below, there are a number of factors contributing to these closures; poor understanding of the needs of new audiences, a cost of living crisis (why spend £50 on a night out when you can save a little and head to a festival for the weekend for a much bigger experience), plus local authority intervention.
Mark Jennings
____________________________________
Right you are, Bob
One of the other phenomenon in the "jazz club" world is that the ones that survive (like the Jazz Bakery in LA and The Sound Room in Oakland) are run as non-profit organizations by people that love and believe in the music.
Others (like Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood) have expanded their booking to cabaret, comedy or other niche areas of the business.
Any way you slice it, the performer needs to have a decent following to fill the room or it is a losing proposition for all involved.
I am glad I am a performer and not a club owner!!!!
George Kahn
____________________________________
HARTMANN'S LAW - If it aint good live, dump it!
You are correct, Sir. It is a digital game. The raison d'etre for nightclubs is to sell booze. But, smokers are rarely drinkers, and all the girls are online. The value of clubs is as incubators for artists to invest the 10,000 hours it takes to create a good repertoire and show. The threshold for entry is very low, However, the degree of difficulty is mired in the hard truth: 10% of the competitors earn 100% of the money, and 1% of those earn 90% of the dough. Only true greatness can win. And a great live act is imperative.
Rock 'til you drop,
Hartmann
____________________________________
I think there's a difference between wanting to see live music and wanting to go to a club. Increasingly, I'm seeing more and more venues that aren't "clubs" per se, but do host music. City Winery is a good example. As far as I can tell, the one here in Nashville is doing quite well. For the past several months, my wife went to see live music somewhere on an average of once a week. None of it involved going to clubs.
When something's not working, you can close it down. Or, you can reinvent it.
Craig Anderton
____________________________________
You're spot on. The club scene is all but dead and I don't think it ever really existed in my life or the time I spent playing clubs. I spent over 12 years (2010 to 2023) playing clubs in New England as an indie band. And it was a slog of an experience. Did I love playing with my band? Yes. Absolutely. Did we get better the more we played? Of course. Would people come to see us at 11PM on a cold Wednesday night in Boston? No! I barely wanted to be there! But I was always told you gotta play the bad slots to get to the good slots. The music industry, now that I think about it, isn't that far off from gambling. But that's for another time.
The last show my band played was in January 2023. I remember waiting around until 2AM to get, like, $120 - and split it four ways. The rest of my band went home shortly after our set, but someone had to stick around for the little cash we'd get. It was my band so I stuck around.
I'd leave my apartment around 6PM and get home after 2AM, to play for however many people (anywhere from 2 to 200 people depending on the night), for crumbs. It's not even about the money for me. But the time. I would bring a book and hide in the corner somewhere while other bands played because I didn't care about them. I was on this trajectory because I grew up hearing, "You gotta play live - sometimes to no one - and pay your dues. Then you'll get a big fat record contract." Well, needless to say, the former happened but the latter did not. Oh there were chances, but bands are hard. My singers would quit at the most inopportune times. And that's why I started singing because I wanted a band and needed consistency.
But I digress.
I'm not sorry about any of it, but I know I missed the heyday of the club scene. And I'm kind of sad I did. But at the same time, I have never once gone to a random show at a random club to hear a random act. So why would I have gone had I been born at a different time? I remember thinking I was a problem within my ecosystem/community because I wasn't super invested in the scene. I also don't drink, so going to a club or a bar for a show is even less appealing.
I like to think my band was good, and at a different time, it would have been different. But who knows? If anyone wants to listen - www.amymantis.com/music - you can judge for yourself. (Feel free to take this link out if you share this in a mailbag. I'm not here to convince you I should be famous or whatever, but I'm sharing it as proof that I really gave it a go.)
Another thing is that there are so many more options for entertainment now! Do you want to go sit in a loud, dirty room listening to (often) mediocre bands you've never heard of? Or do you want to stay home and watch a great movie or TV show? Or, if you're like me, you go to plenty of concerts - but for artists you know and love and trust. Last weekend, my boyfriend and I saw Duran Duran. They were fantastic! Over the last year or so we've seen John Mayer, Tedeschi Trucks (the best live band IMO), the Stones, Springsteen, Queen + Adam Lambert, Janet Jackson, Ringo Starr, and Duran Duran. I might be missing a few, but you can see what they have in common (with the exception of Tedeschi Trucks, but those that know, know).
We live in an interesting time. And while I do believe that people want to socialize, they don't want to socialize at clubs and bars with live music and bad food - if they have food at all.
Live music will persist. It's just going to be a very different scene than it was back in the day.
It already is.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Yours in music,
Amy Mantis
PS - while I may no longer be slugging it out on the non-existent club circuit, I'm by no means "done" as a musician or songwriter. I've pivoted to other musical endeavors because if I didn't play music, I think I would die. I thought I would die if I didn't "make it," but since I'm still here at the old age of 34, I think I'll be okay.
____________________________________
Bob,
I could not disagree more with this.
First you are factually incorrect about Sam Smith, he played small and the large clubs in the US in 2013 and 2014 and only started in headlining Arenas in the US in 2015, if you first heard him in 2015 it might look like he started in Arenas.
If you look at Olivia Rodrigo or Sabrina Carpenter; they were both developed with millions spent by Disney. This isn't a new model, as old as time. Not to take away from either of them, but their success is built of years of hard work and real INVESTMENT in them. The internet didn't make them. They were not overnight. Their model is not one that many new artists have a chance at. And it is not anything like what you incorrectly say happened to Sam Smith.
But I think you fundamentally misunderstand the role of small clubs in an artist's career. Small clubs are not the most important discovery outlet for new artists. You are right on that. The Internet is where the buzz builds. Clubs are where new artists LEARN how to be live artists. Where they learn their voice. Learn their craft. And learn stage presence. Learn how to speak to their audience, or even who their audience is. Often lots of this goes on without most people noticing.
You say "And don't confuse Chappell Roan with the club business." How is years of touring in clubs NOT part of her story? She played my 300 cap The Rebel Lounge twice opening for other acts, starting in 2017, SEVEN YEARS AGO. I saw her headline the 500 cap here and it was good. You say "She made it by opening for a superstar, she was in front of all those eyeballs." But why did she stand out to those eyeballs? It's because by the time she got those slots she had EXPERIENCE. She was ready. She had earned their attention. Everyone has seen that video of her playing Pink Pony Club in a park for 50 people. If you watch that video you would not say "This is a supper start," no one sent that video to their friends at the time, it didn't go vira then. But if you are used to developing talent you see it and know SOMETHING is there. But if you saw her at a festival this summer (I got to see Outside Lands) you saw a STAR. The difference between those performances isn't the internet. It is hard work she put in on stage. If you put the girl from the park on stage in front of 75K people at Lollapalooza she wouldn't have been ready for it and we wouldn't be talking about her. Just compare that video in the park to her on SNL last weekend. It is the same song but the performance is categorically different, and that is due to her hard work. Thinking about Chappell Roan as some overnight success really diminishes her hard work.
I have seen so many Sold Out shows in clubs in the last few years for artists that had a TikTok moment and most of those acts never came around again. I have seen too many sold out shows where the crowd is lethargic until the "one" song comes and everyone pulls out their phones. So many of those acts suck live because their first show ever as a musician is on a sold out tour of house of blues or whatever large clubs, no one talks about them again or comes back because they were not ready. Fans know a bad performance when they see it. The internet can get a crowd to come one time, they get to say they saw the meme of the moment, but talent and skill win over a crowd and create fans. And you have to learn it. No one ever walks on stage day one with that.
On the other hand I have seen a ton of great artists that we had at Rebel that I have watched grow into great artists and when they have their viral moment people come and see them and are blown away by what they see. They don't have one song, they have a full set, and more great songs than they can even fit in a set. And when these acts that have paid their dues and have their internet moment, the new online fans come to see them and those new fans know what they are seeing is real and they come back again and again and again.
We have had Mitski at Rebel 3 times, we had Charlie Crocket at Rebel 3 times, we had TV Girl there and had them in other small rooms, we had LANY, Khruangbin, Japanese Breakfast, Alex G, Louis The Child, Men I Trust and so many more. These are all great live acts that learned how to be great in clubs.
There are loads of acts with great streaming numbers that can't sell tickets. You can get streams without ever being good live. But if you look at the acts selling tickets right now they ALL started in small clubs.
Stephen Chilton
Psyko Steve Presents
The Rebel Lounge
____________________________________
Dear Mr. Lefsetz:
I write to respond to your letter, "Let the Clubs Close."
Independent stages, including clubs, are still the place where artists start their live careers. How do we know this? The best examples of why this is true are the artists you mention in your letter.
Before opening for a superstar, Chappell Roan played independent clubs like Cannery Ballroom and First Avenue in 2017; Music Box and Rebel Lounge in 2018; Bowery Ballroom and Troubadour in 2022; and 9:30 Club and The Crocodile in 2023.
Before he played arenas, Noah Kahan was an unsigned artist playing original material at independent clubs like The Broadberry and Le Poisson Rouge in 2017; Cat's Cradle and Metro in 2018; Neumos and Higher Ground in 2019; Beachland Ballroom and Orange Peel in 2021; and Washington's and The Depot in 2022.
Artists don't just appear on an arena stage overnight. More often than not, they start at an independent club.
And people show up to these shows, like they do every night (and some days) at independent stages across the country. For Chappell Roan and Noah Kahan, and so many other artists from every genre, starting in clubs can be hard, but it is not a fool's errand. Far from it.
The reason these artists are successful is because they work incredibly hard - and independent stages sacrifice to ensure they have a place to start and grow their careers. These mom and pop entrepreneurial businesses not only support artists, but collectively funnel billions a year into local economies and support thousands of small businesses in communities around them throughout the U.S.
However, like clubs in the U.K., independent venues and festivals in the U.S. are struggling - and closing. They are grappling with inflation, rising labor costs, astronomical insurance costs, alcohol permitting issues, ballooning rent payments, threats to public safety, transportation and parking issues for patrons, predatory resellers making life harder for them and their customers, and a global conglomerate promoter using anti-competitive practices that threaten their existence.
We have much to learn from what the U.K. is experiencing, but the most important lesson is this: our independent clubs, festivals, and promoters should be fighting for the same things here in the U.S., and that includes financial assistance from governments. Texas took a first step in 2022 to create a fund to ensure the financial security of independent venues and Tennessee created a similar fund earlier this year to help artists and stages. Every state and locality should be doing the same - and the multinational conglomerate using their market power to suppress competition should have a role in paying for them. We should legislate the continued existence of independent stages, including clubs.
It may have been a while since you went to an independent club, so I invite you to join me one night. I'll take you to a few. I'd love to remind you of what you may have known at one point: these cultural sanctuaries for fans and artists to connect over music and performance are a powerful force in every community that should be preserved. It's not just nostalgia. The authentic experience people have in these rooms is still the truth.
Stephen Parker
Executive Director
National Independent Venue Association
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