One More Thing

No, I'm not going to follow in the footsteps of Steve Jobs and make a big announcement. However, I do want to make one more point, comment on one more moment of "The Greatest Night in Pop."

We watched this last night. We took a break from the Turkish series "The Club" we're watching on Netflix. Pretty fascinating TV, but it wasn't until the third episode that I got hooked. What you've got is Istanbul in the fifties, and a nightclub signs an unknown who everyone else has rejected, and there's a contrast between the Jews and the Muslims and... You might think it's soap operaish. I don't know, I can be sappy, I can suspend disbelief and go with a show. Actually, I like to be taken away, it makes me feel alive.

And speaking of feeling alive, it was what they call a bluebird day in Vail. As in not a cloud in the sky. And all I could think was how great it was to be alive. And I don't always feel this way. Although one thing about getting older is you become better adjusted, you smooth out, you don't have as many downs.

But having said that, other things are not quite as meaningful. Like the Super Bowl. I mean I remember watching the very first one. And no game has ever superseded the legend of Namath's victory with the Jets. But Sunday was a a great game, the only one I watched all year, I've sworn off the NFL because of CTE, but the Super Bowl is an American rite, a holiday, a get-together we can all share, that we can all comment on. And I did discuss the 49ers strategy with Richard. Who told me they should have let KC have the ball first in overtime, to see what Mahomes could do, so that maybe if they were in the red zone thereafter they could put the ball in the end zone instead of kicking a field goal. As for Usher?

Man, I've got to give him props for roller skating, how long did he work on that. But as for Usher, and Alicia Keys... I guess our stars were bigger, and certainly not based on dancing. And not only were their songs hits, they were embedded in us, and all of us knew them. All of this to say I saw no need to comment on the performance. Maybe they should bring back Up With People, because Prince holds the trophy, no one could ever be that good. And it's just turned into a marketing exercise anyway.

So, what was meaningful no longer is. And nobody wants to talk about this, because nobody wants to look old. Speaking of which...if you watch the doc and you're not convinced to foreswear plastic surgery... I won't even mention the names. But if you go under the knife you never know the exact result you're going to get. Sometimes it doesn't even look like you, sometimes you even look like a freak. And it's all about you, because the rest of us know how old you are, I mean who do you think you're fooling?

And there's all this talk about experiences being the holy grail these days. And that's true. Although today people exhibit their travels, their adventures, as a badge of honor. Like we're keeping score. When the best experiences are personal, you have an inner mounting flame that you can always return to, that you can never explain to anybody else, but it's palpable.

So at the end of the doc...

"And Diana Ross stayed after everybody was gone.
And I hear her crying.
Quincy said, 'Diana, are you okay?'
And she's like 'I don't want this to be over.'"

I came home from Camp Laurelwood at the end of August, 1965. It was a rainy day, and my mother walked in on me crying in my bedroom. She asked me what was the matter. I said I wanted to go back to camp, I missed my friends.

My mother was logical, she told me camp was closed, there was nothing to go back to. But that feeling, of being with your buddies 24/7...

Actually, that's the great thing about being with other people, together for so long. You can get along with anybody. Sometimes there's one a-hole who can't stop alienating everybody, but usually the humanity of each individual exudes and you connect. Doesn't matter where you went to school, how smart you are, you relate as a human being. And it's the most powerful feeling. I always tell people my favorite moment in life was back in May of '75, living in Mammoth Lakes, skiing at the mountain each and every day. I was living with six other people I hardly knew, but over the weeks we became the best of friends, lifelong friends. And the funny thing is whenever we get together everyone else testifies that May was the highlight of their life too.

I could tell you what happened, the experiences. But you've got similar ones. Being in a group of people.

This is one of the things that alienated me from marijuana. It isolated you, whereas drink made you voluble, you could do it together. But I did too much of that.

But that togetherness... It's elusive. And it can't exactly be manufactured. And it almost always happens on a lark, when you're not sure you want to commit. It's when you do what you're not sure you want to that you have the greatest experiences of life.

So I don't know Diana Ross. But she doesn't come across as a star in this movie, but as a person. And the stars are, people, that is. And if you don't know them, if you're not introduced to them, they've got their guard way up, they don't want anything to do with you, they've had too many bad experiences. But you can become a friend with one of these stars, to the degree they're capable of it. Yes, most of these stars are flawed, that's why they're stars, they need acknowledgement, there's a hole they're trying to fill, that ironically can never be filled. Well-adjusted people don't become artists, it's too difficult, too isolating. But under all that, Diana still feels what we do. The loss. Of community. Of a great experience. That will never happen again.

I don't know if I'll ever meet her. Not that big of a stretch. But if I do, I know I can mention this moment in the movie, the experience she had that night, and we can bond over the feeling.

Great movies give you these moments, these feelings. That's what art is about. That's why I don't understand the fascination with superhero movies. Maybe a great ride, but I wouldn't want to go to Disneyland every day, even once a year. I'm looking for something deeper.

And that's what so many of the people in this doc provided in their music. They dug down deep and revealed elements of themselves, they opened themselves to us and we connected with them, what they were saying. Sure, there was fame. But the fame came second. There were not brand extensions. You didn't sell out, no one even thought of that. The Fortune 500 was anathema.

Billy Joel... Looks like a guy you went to elementary school with, who you've run into all these years later. He's not concerned with image. And Huey Lewis is constantly thinking he's not worthy.

The film supersedes the song.

If I'd written the previous missive last night it would have been much more comprehensive, much better. Because I could have captured the moment. And I could have done it, but it would have ruined today, I'd have never gotten to sleep, I wouldn't have had that great day on the mountain.

But I'm kind of pissed I didn't. Because what I wrote was pedestrian.

But I just wanted to tell you about this moment in the movie.

It meant so much to me.


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