The Desert

It freaked me right out.

Lisa implored me to come for the BBQ last night, but I didn't want to miss couples therapy in the morning, especially after being out of the country, there was a lot to cover.

But this also meant I couldn't leave L.A. until just before noon, which meant I'd hit traffic.

But I could listen to Joe Biden on Howard Stern. iMessage was blowing up when I awoke, quite a coup for Stern and Sirius. But when I tuned in...

Here's the bottom line. Biden sounded old, really old. He had all his marbles, he told amazing stories, it was hard not to like him, he was self-deprecating but at the same time talking about a career in public service, but anybody listening would say this is an eighty year old guy. As my friend Andy said about a touring act that's fronted by someone over eighty, he's got no breath, no oomph. How they decided to let this man run is beyond me. In sports if you don't see the end, they tell you. Why couldn't anybody tell Joe he did his part and is now too old? Because when you listen to this guy you ask yourself what he's going to be like in four years, never mind him talking about how many of his buddies from Scranton are now dead. Not to mention the fact that Kamala Harris is not beloved. Sure, the right has marginalized her unfairly, but don't forget her performance in the 2020 debates... The more she talked, the less traction she got. So if Biden passes or becomes incapacitated, Kamala would step in, and I'm cool with that, but I can't say I'm enthusiastic.

And then there's the fact that Biden announced on Stern that he'd debate Trump. What is he, delusional? Trump won't let him get a word in edgewise and based on his performance today, Biden is going to look old and challenged and...

If you debate me, you too are delusional. Why can't anybody step back and see what is going on, why can't anybody blow the whistle?

Speaking of which, the "Wall Street Journal" has been busy blowing the whistle on the campus protesters and the left is so fearful of alienating a potential voter that it is staying silent. This is not the sixties and Vietnam, nobody has got skin in the game, whereas sixty years ago...you might get drafted and killed.

And then there's the ignorance and the support of Hamas and the river to the sea b.s... Peaceful protest is one thing, making Jews fearful of attending class is another. Yes, if you're a scared Jew at Columbia you can go to class virtually. Actually, Andrew Cuomo has got a good piece in today's aforementioned WSJ:

"Antisemitism at Columbia University Is a Disgrace - Imagine if in the wake of 9/11, pro-al-Qaeda protesters chased New Yorkers out of the city."

Free link: https://t.ly/CwC_u

Check it out.

So you can't go anywhere anymore, because of the people. The roads are not wide enough and if they're widened that just means people will move farther out and commute. Which means the speedy passage to the desert of even the eighties is history.

And then there was the rain. I know, it never rains in Southern California, only it does. When Lisa called and I told her she said it was blue skies in Indian Wells, which stunned me. But after Mt. San Jacinto, it truly was clear, and it appears it will continue to be so.

Yes, there are record references. You've got Peter Gabriel and the mountain and Robert Plant and "29 Palms"... Made me think of Robert, that song is fantastic, but radio wouldn't play it. Robert stopped doing the same thing, ultimately working with Alison Krauss. Kudos. Life is long, it gets boring doing the same damn thing, and it might feel good to be an icon, but that won't keep you warm at night.

And after Biden I went through literally every SXM channel, and the one that interested me most was John Mayer's. They were playing "Heartbreak Warfare," which is probably my favorite track of his, but after that they played Khruangbin & Leon Bridges's "Texas Sun," which is really good, except for the 808 elements. That's one thing that had me scratching my head, on every channel you heard a sound that was new in the eighties. We don't hear synth drums anymore, why do we have to hear the 808 in pop, country, everything?

And on another channel, way up in the 300s, they played Air's "All I Need" and it felt so good. But that was from back in the nineties, so much time has passed. And I was checking myself... I don't think young people would be as pissed about the traffic, it's all they know. And they've experienced a lot less music. I heard the Doobies' "Mamaloi" on Kenny Chesney's "No Shoes" channel and that's fifty years old. Do I know too much, am I disconnected, or does music not have the same place in the social structure anymore? I mean if you want to talk Trump, politics, China... I'm reading three physical newspapers a day and a few more virtually just like I used to read every rock magazine I could get my hands on. You can't even read "Rolling Stone" anymore, it's behind a paywall! And now it's an also-ran political outlet. Then again, "Rolling Stone" missed the internet just like MTV.

Speaking of which, have you been following the NPR story? Forget that the guy said it was too liberal, too politically correct, the real story is it's financially challenged. It's losing audience and advertisers.

"Inside the Crisis at NPR - Listeners are tuning out. Sponsorship revenue has dipped. A diversity push has generated internal turmoil. Can America's public radio network turn things around?"

Free link: https://t.ly/saC-o

You should read this, or at least skim it, NPR was disrupted, missed the memo and its moment and is on the downswing, only baby boomers are really listening, they've tried to diversify their audience and it has failed.

Just like Paramount+. It has lost billions in streaming. Imitating disrupter Netflix is not a good strategy.

Even more interesting is the story of the demise of car factories in China:

"'It Is Desolate': China's Glut of Unused Car Factories - Manufacturers like BYD, Tesla and Li Auto are cutting prices to move their electric cars. For gasoline-powered vehicles, the surplus of factories is even worse."

https://t.ly/yr0aQ

And we're arguing for gas guzzlers in the U.S. Sure, China is challenged, it overbuilt real estate, its economy is teetering, but that does not mean we can't learn lessons. China is the progenitor here. We have a moribund government playing team sports and missing the future. Sure, we can shut down TikTok, but China may still eat our lunch. But we're inured to a past lifestyle that wasn't so good to begin with.

Like I said, if you want to go deep on the news, I'm there with you. But today's music scene is so opaque.

But I didn't plan to write any of the above.

You see when you reach the desert, it's desolate. You're on the freeway, in some cases going near ninety just to keep up with the flow of traffic, and you look at the landscape and you get the feeling if you wandered off you'd die of exposure.

Maybe I've seen too many westerns. That was a staple of our boomer diet. TV shows and movies. Remember "The Treasure of Sierra Madre"? Today's kids ain't got no sense of movie history, never mind not having any badges.

And there's a sandstorm and endless vistas of nothing... If I drove another six hours I'd get to Phoenix, but it would be even hotter. Maybe people aren't supposed to live there. Hell, they're not supposed to live in the San Fernando Valley.

I mean I'm in the A/C and feel safe right now, but I was creeped out on the highway.

This isn't the mountains. Although there are beautiful mountains surrounding the flats, I was wondering what the attachment was.

But now that I'm inside...

Modern life is confounding.

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