Tune in Saturday July 13th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Friday 12 July 2024
Thursday 11 July 2024
Blue Lights
https://t.ly/lBaRk
1
This is a really good TV show.
But it's on BritBox.
I know, I know, you're sick of having to subscribe to another streaming platform, and I am too, but I was running out of blue chip shows.
As you know, I won't watch week to week. Therefore I won't pay for Apple TV+. And the interesting thing is when the series ends, I usually don't go back and sign up to watch it straight through. I noticed this happening with movies a few years back. I'd make a notation to stream it when it came to television, but when it was finally available, I just couldn't create the inner oomph to partake. And my point here is never, NEVER hold back anything from the audience today. You might think you're winning, you might think you're building water cooler buzz, but the joke is on you. If you don't make something readily available, the masses will just move right past it, you'll miss the target and not even know it.
Kinda like the Hawk Tuah girl. Are we going to be talking about her a year from now? Three months from now? Strike when the iron is hot. You think everybody is paying attention, everybody is hungry for your product, when in truth most people are just shrugging if they are even aware of it.
But there are a limited number of good series out there.
This is what purveyors will never acknowledge. That most of what they're selling is mediocre, in a world of plenty. And if someone finds something good, they'll tell everybody they know about it. And oftentimes it's the left field that even the purveyor did not see as a hit that succeeds. Like "Squid Game." And "Tiger King." (Forget the backlash against the latter, the bottom line is these people were so whacked, you couldn't stop watching them.)
As for "Blue Lights"...
It's a BBC production, so if you live in the U.K. you're probably aware of it.
And if you're in some country other than the U.S. it might be available on a service you're already paying for, channels are different in Canada, and Australia, and...
But in the U.S. you have to pay extra for it. Which even though it's de minimis, $8.99 for two seasons, twelve one hour episodes, a deal when you compare it to going to a two hour movie, it's hard to get people over the transom, so I don't expect "Blue Lights" to be the talk of America.
Then again, how much do people know about Belfast? The Troubles?
I've been there. Pretty amazing.
But "Blue Lights" is set in the present. And it's all about emergency services patrolling the landscape, trying to put out fires, both metaphorical and physical. Where half the people hate the peelers. (They're called that after Sir Robert Peel, who formed the first modern police force in London in 1829, and that's also why cops in Britain are called "Bobbies," get it?)
There are certain areas where the peelers are afraid to go. The residents don't need no stinkin' police people, they're the enemy, and not only will they not cooperate, they'll fight back, with sticks and stones and bones might be broken.
2
I know, I know, you've seen enough cop shows. And I must say, "Blue Lights" is not a revelation. And it is not as good as "Spiral," the pinnacle of the genre, but compared to what's on American television, what the algorithm serves up, it's far superior.
You see you've got peelers on probation. Are they going to make it? Are they going to stay on the street or move higher up?
And all policing is about compromise, bending the rules. To what degree do you go along to get along and to what degree do you stand your ground?
And this isn't the weathered male police force of 1970s New York. Half of the peelers are women. Can women and men work alongside each other with no sexual tension? That's a question that's asked here.
And so many underlying issues. What's it like to be biracial where everybody is not? Can you lift up a community or is it basically Chinatown? Should you take the law into your own hands? Does it always come down to intimidation and raw force?
All these questions and more are asked.
You can watch the typical TV fare, but if you want something deeper, I recommend "Blue Lights."
And now that I'm paying for BritBox for a month, I'm looking for another show on the channel.
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Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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1
This is a really good TV show.
But it's on BritBox.
I know, I know, you're sick of having to subscribe to another streaming platform, and I am too, but I was running out of blue chip shows.
As you know, I won't watch week to week. Therefore I won't pay for Apple TV+. And the interesting thing is when the series ends, I usually don't go back and sign up to watch it straight through. I noticed this happening with movies a few years back. I'd make a notation to stream it when it came to television, but when it was finally available, I just couldn't create the inner oomph to partake. And my point here is never, NEVER hold back anything from the audience today. You might think you're winning, you might think you're building water cooler buzz, but the joke is on you. If you don't make something readily available, the masses will just move right past it, you'll miss the target and not even know it.
Kinda like the Hawk Tuah girl. Are we going to be talking about her a year from now? Three months from now? Strike when the iron is hot. You think everybody is paying attention, everybody is hungry for your product, when in truth most people are just shrugging if they are even aware of it.
But there are a limited number of good series out there.
This is what purveyors will never acknowledge. That most of what they're selling is mediocre, in a world of plenty. And if someone finds something good, they'll tell everybody they know about it. And oftentimes it's the left field that even the purveyor did not see as a hit that succeeds. Like "Squid Game." And "Tiger King." (Forget the backlash against the latter, the bottom line is these people were so whacked, you couldn't stop watching them.)
As for "Blue Lights"...
It's a BBC production, so if you live in the U.K. you're probably aware of it.
And if you're in some country other than the U.S. it might be available on a service you're already paying for, channels are different in Canada, and Australia, and...
But in the U.S. you have to pay extra for it. Which even though it's de minimis, $8.99 for two seasons, twelve one hour episodes, a deal when you compare it to going to a two hour movie, it's hard to get people over the transom, so I don't expect "Blue Lights" to be the talk of America.
Then again, how much do people know about Belfast? The Troubles?
I've been there. Pretty amazing.
But "Blue Lights" is set in the present. And it's all about emergency services patrolling the landscape, trying to put out fires, both metaphorical and physical. Where half the people hate the peelers. (They're called that after Sir Robert Peel, who formed the first modern police force in London in 1829, and that's also why cops in Britain are called "Bobbies," get it?)
There are certain areas where the peelers are afraid to go. The residents don't need no stinkin' police people, they're the enemy, and not only will they not cooperate, they'll fight back, with sticks and stones and bones might be broken.
2
I know, I know, you've seen enough cop shows. And I must say, "Blue Lights" is not a revelation. And it is not as good as "Spiral," the pinnacle of the genre, but compared to what's on American television, what the algorithm serves up, it's far superior.
You see you've got peelers on probation. Are they going to make it? Are they going to stay on the street or move higher up?
And all policing is about compromise, bending the rules. To what degree do you go along to get along and to what degree do you stand your ground?
And this isn't the weathered male police force of 1970s New York. Half of the peelers are women. Can women and men work alongside each other with no sexual tension? That's a question that's asked here.
And so many underlying issues. What's it like to be biracial where everybody is not? Can you lift up a community or is it basically Chinatown? Should you take the law into your own hands? Does it always come down to intimidation and raw force?
All these questions and more are asked.
You can watch the typical TV fare, but if you want something deeper, I recommend "Blue Lights."
And now that I'm paying for BritBox for a month, I'm looking for another show on the channel.
--
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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Michael McDonald-This Week's Podcast
He's got a new autobiography, "What a Fool Believes."
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-mcdonald/id1316200737?i=1000661890048
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4CKQpVEMxAHrKlXInvV3HW?si=a3e77a5d3bb744dd
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/michael-mcdonald-194465205/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/597742ac-cba4-41cf-b4e2-103e6b60227c/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-michael-mcdonald
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Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-mcdonald/id1316200737?i=1000661890048
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4CKQpVEMxAHrKlXInvV3HW?si=a3e77a5d3bb744dd
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/michael-mcdonald-194465205/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/597742ac-cba4-41cf-b4e2-103e6b60227c/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-michael-mcdonald
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Wednesday 10 July 2024
The Nicky Hopkins Movie
https://thesessionmanfilm.com
Does anybody under forty even know who Nicky Hopkins is/was?
But for those who do...
When was the last time you saw Shel Talmy on film?
And the man with the most gravitas is...Bill Wyman?
Oh, Mick and Keith are here too, and they wax rhapsodic, but they were all there...
Actually, it was at the Marquee Club where the Stones first encountered Nicky. Who dedicated followers of liner notes will be very familiar with (and Dave Davies is in this flick too!)
Nicky Hopkins was the ultimate session man. Billy Preston gets all the credit for being the fifth Beatle, and I don't want to take anything away from the man whose career went 'round in circles, but the A#1 session man of the classic rock era was Nicky Hopkins.
Who is not in this film much, but when he is... He's completely different from your image of the man. He's soft-spoken, anything but dark and far from intimidating. He comes across as nothing so much as...A MUSICIAN!
And they recite the history, some known, some unknown, but the essence of the film is the legendary heads talking about the work Nicky did. And when the piano player reproduces Nicky's licks...a smile comes to your face. And when there is talk of and ultimately the playing of the intro to "Monkey Man"...I got shivers, and a grin formed on my face. That iconic riff. That had nothing to do with the Glimmer Twins, that was pure Nicky.
And I bought "The Tin Man Was a Dreamer," Nicky's one and only solo album, which had a great version of "Edward," which was listed as "Edward (The Mad Shirt Grinder)" in its original incarnation at the end of the Quicksilver album "Shady Grove."
And I didn't know that Nicky was so close to John Cippolina. And there's a great delineation of the cross-pollinated San Francisco scene of the day, with Cippolina's sister and Jorma and Jack, but I could never quite fathom how Nicky went from sideman to band member.
The money. The work. You don't get royalties as a sideman.
Or as Steve Lukather has told me a number of times... An older studio cat told him that although he was the top gunslinger today, fashion always changes, he needed to find his own thing, and then Luke and his Valley buddies formed Toto.
Nicky moves back to England and is happy, but has to relocate back to L.A. to work. And I always wondered how he ended up in Nashville, but it turns out the '94 Northridge earthquake was the last straw.
This is not a Hollywood biopic, like they made for Queen and Elton John. This is a documentary...documenting the story, an important story, so it won't be forgotten.
I mean the licks live on...
But in these days of synthesizers and hard drives, never mind AI, people seem to forget that there are real people behind the music, and all this stuff cut back then was the beneficiary of some studio breakthroughs, but was ultimately handmade.
And I'd recommend you watch "The Session Man," but so far there's no distribution.
This ain't music. Which can cost almost nothing to make and nothing to distribute. Sure, you can make a movie on your iPhone, but if you want talking heads, never mind music rights, you're going to spend a few bucks. And it's always hard to find those bucks.
And some of these films are so low budget as to be questionable uses of your time, but the Hopkins film is something better. Sure, it's hagiography, but you know each and every one of the talking heads, from Chris Kimsey to Greg Phillinganes, another session man, and it's a treat to see and hear the musings of P.P. Arnold, who had little presence in the U.S. market and who many people might think has passed.
"The Session Man" is a link in your education. It fills holes in your mental history of rock and roll. Which revolutionized society, impacted a an entire generation, music was the coolest medium, it drove the culture and Nicky was there, not on the periphery, but audible on some of your favorite records.
But Amazon and Netflix, et al, have cut back on buying this stuff. Amazon won't even let you distribute it pay-per-view. Yes, Amazon used to take everything, not anymore. So you can make it, but...
As I always say, distribution is king. If you can't see it, it doesn't matter how good it is.
If your eyes light up when you hear the name "Nicky Hopkins" you'll want to see this movie. It is not a revelation, but you're taken inside the gold mine, you get a fuller understanding of who the man was.
But for now, "The Session Man" plays festivals... Used to be music docs were rare, you even paid to see them in a theatre, now there's a plethora, seemingly every act of yore has one.
Many of those acts are forgettable.
But not Nicky Hopkins.
--
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--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Does anybody under forty even know who Nicky Hopkins is/was?
But for those who do...
When was the last time you saw Shel Talmy on film?
And the man with the most gravitas is...Bill Wyman?
Oh, Mick and Keith are here too, and they wax rhapsodic, but they were all there...
Actually, it was at the Marquee Club where the Stones first encountered Nicky. Who dedicated followers of liner notes will be very familiar with (and Dave Davies is in this flick too!)
Nicky Hopkins was the ultimate session man. Billy Preston gets all the credit for being the fifth Beatle, and I don't want to take anything away from the man whose career went 'round in circles, but the A#1 session man of the classic rock era was Nicky Hopkins.
Who is not in this film much, but when he is... He's completely different from your image of the man. He's soft-spoken, anything but dark and far from intimidating. He comes across as nothing so much as...A MUSICIAN!
And they recite the history, some known, some unknown, but the essence of the film is the legendary heads talking about the work Nicky did. And when the piano player reproduces Nicky's licks...a smile comes to your face. And when there is talk of and ultimately the playing of the intro to "Monkey Man"...I got shivers, and a grin formed on my face. That iconic riff. That had nothing to do with the Glimmer Twins, that was pure Nicky.
And I bought "The Tin Man Was a Dreamer," Nicky's one and only solo album, which had a great version of "Edward," which was listed as "Edward (The Mad Shirt Grinder)" in its original incarnation at the end of the Quicksilver album "Shady Grove."
And I didn't know that Nicky was so close to John Cippolina. And there's a great delineation of the cross-pollinated San Francisco scene of the day, with Cippolina's sister and Jorma and Jack, but I could never quite fathom how Nicky went from sideman to band member.
The money. The work. You don't get royalties as a sideman.
Or as Steve Lukather has told me a number of times... An older studio cat told him that although he was the top gunslinger today, fashion always changes, he needed to find his own thing, and then Luke and his Valley buddies formed Toto.
Nicky moves back to England and is happy, but has to relocate back to L.A. to work. And I always wondered how he ended up in Nashville, but it turns out the '94 Northridge earthquake was the last straw.
This is not a Hollywood biopic, like they made for Queen and Elton John. This is a documentary...documenting the story, an important story, so it won't be forgotten.
I mean the licks live on...
But in these days of synthesizers and hard drives, never mind AI, people seem to forget that there are real people behind the music, and all this stuff cut back then was the beneficiary of some studio breakthroughs, but was ultimately handmade.
And I'd recommend you watch "The Session Man," but so far there's no distribution.
This ain't music. Which can cost almost nothing to make and nothing to distribute. Sure, you can make a movie on your iPhone, but if you want talking heads, never mind music rights, you're going to spend a few bucks. And it's always hard to find those bucks.
And some of these films are so low budget as to be questionable uses of your time, but the Hopkins film is something better. Sure, it's hagiography, but you know each and every one of the talking heads, from Chris Kimsey to Greg Phillinganes, another session man, and it's a treat to see and hear the musings of P.P. Arnold, who had little presence in the U.S. market and who many people might think has passed.
"The Session Man" is a link in your education. It fills holes in your mental history of rock and roll. Which revolutionized society, impacted a an entire generation, music was the coolest medium, it drove the culture and Nicky was there, not on the periphery, but audible on some of your favorite records.
But Amazon and Netflix, et al, have cut back on buying this stuff. Amazon won't even let you distribute it pay-per-view. Yes, Amazon used to take everything, not anymore. So you can make it, but...
As I always say, distribution is king. If you can't see it, it doesn't matter how good it is.
If your eyes light up when you hear the name "Nicky Hopkins" you'll want to see this movie. It is not a revelation, but you're taken inside the gold mine, you get a fuller understanding of who the man was.
But for now, "The Session Man" plays festivals... Used to be music docs were rare, you even paid to see them in a theatre, now there's a plethora, seemingly every act of yore has one.
Many of those acts are forgettable.
But not Nicky Hopkins.
--
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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A Bit More Biden
It makes me want to resign from the Democratic party.
Maybe I'm my father's son, maybe I'm a child of the sixties, but I was taught that you stood up for what was right, consequences be damned.
Liz Cheney is a national hero despite having heinous political positions. History will be very kind to her, it will not be to the sheep who've fallen in line behind Donald Trump, who deny what we saw with our very own eyes on January 6th.
Call me a chump, but I believed in the political system. And thought that the Democrats were better than the Republicans. Now I know that is untrue. They're all pussies afraid of speaking the truth, for fear they'll lose their jobs. Isn't job number one to represent their constituencies? This proves that it is not. The Democratic public, the hoi polloi, are overwhelming in favor of Biden stepping down and being replaced. But the elected officials are not doing their job and putting forth this take. They're afraid.
Fear...
Don't confuse today's protests with those of the sixties. The culture was way ahead of D.C. The youth were pulling Washington into the present, since it had its head so far up its ass.
But today? In the era of internet and ubiquitous TV? No one is that far out of the loop. They know what is going on. But Democrats in D.C. want to be ostriches.
Let's be clear. Biden is toast. It's over. He's done. But in the process of his expulsion, the denouement, he's taking the entire Democratic party down with him, they're doing irreparable harm to the country. If we don't believe in the system, we're done.
That's what the Democrats were always told. To have faith, to believe, that the goal was to take care of everybody, build a more equitable society while we plowed into the future and got things done.
But not Saint Obama. He was so fearful of appearing the angry Black man that he never stood up to the Republicans. He kept waiting for them to come to the table, and they never did. John McCain had a bout of conscience and saved the Affordable Care Act from the cynical Republicans, but as far as leading, Obama didn't do that good a job.
Old Joe? He did great. From the start he knew the Republicans were never going to get on board, so he just marched forward. Oh, he waited too long on this and that, but he led.
Until he didn't. Until he became more concerned about keeping his job.
We keep hearing what a narcissist Donald Trump is, now we know Joe Biden is one too.
So, all those elected Democrats, the ones in the Senate and the House of Representatives, they could take a stand, say Joe has to go, but they won't, because they're wrapped up in the team.
The team will lead you right off the cliff. America is about the individual, breaking rules, dragging the rest of the nation into the future.
That's right, our heroes used to be musicians, who spoke truth as opposed to being silent for fear of denting their brand extensions. Now it's techies we worship. Move fast and break things? In D.C. it's don't move at all and don't break a single thing, don't upset the Apple cart. That's right, Apple, as in Steve Jobs, who did more for the country, more for the world than anybody in Washington. Never mind the rest of the techies.
The people in D.C. are the ones you hated in high school. You know the people who wouldn't say a single negative thing about anybody. Who boasted they got along with all groups. Meanwhile, the jocks and the cheerleaders either faded away or became drones at the corporation, that's what sports teaches you, to be part of the team. But each and every one of you remembers the weird kid in your class, who may have gone unnoticed, who may have been an object of derision, who went on to set the world on fire. They could see the landscape, they were on a mission, they wanted to make a difference, they wanted to leave their mark and no amount of negativity and blowback was going to get in their way.
Let's see... You're in Congress, fearful of coming out publicly against Biden... What's the price? You're elected by people in your state, the majority of whom want Biden gone.
As for upsetting the President, the CEO...
If you follow business history, business litigation, it used to be that being on the board was a cushy job of me-tooism that paid handsomely. But then the courts started holding these board members responsible for not reining in the CEO went they went off the reservation. Today board members are much more active, and if they see something they don't like, they resign. And if there's a crisis, they take action promptly. Sure, they're afraid of the CEO, but they're also afraid of being held legally liable, so they come up with an equitable solution.
And if you break the code of the corporation, you're instantly out, no matter how good a job you did. It could be as simple as dating someone who reports to you. As for a code of operation, isn't age and competence the number one criterion? I.e. can you do the job? If not, they oust you. After all, the board is responsible to the shareholders.
We're the shareholders in America, you and me, but our board, our elected officials, don't care what we think, they're only out for themselves.
So how am I supposed to say Democrats are better than Republicans anymore? Never mind that some of what the Republicans have said has turned out to be true. About intersectionality on campus, everything boiling down to oppressed and oppressor. Did you see those Deans texting antisemitic remarks at Columbia? They lost their jobs. But no one can lose their job in D.C. And when they're on the spot, they fight tooth and nail, for every Santos there's a Menendez and a Gaetz, never mind Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.
Remember when it was said of JFK's cabinet that they were the "Best and the Brightest"? That type is not in politics anymore. You've had to be squeaky clean to even run, never mind win. Trump broke that paradigm, we've all smoked dope, crossed the line sometimes, we should not insist our elected officials be priests and nuns, the former who've turned out to not be so princely, the light was ultimately shone upon them.
We have hard evidence. The debate, the Stephanopoulos interview. Just yesterday, George was caught on camera saying Biden can't serve another four years.
But George had to apologize. Why? He's not elected. As for speaking his personal truth, isn't that what the Fox anchors do 24/7? Why are those perceived to be on the left held to a different standard?
So it's left to the media. Anybody who has doubted the power of the "New York Times" is going to have to eat their hat when Biden steps down, because the outlet has almost single-handedly beaten and continued to beat the drum of the need for Biden to step down. The "Times" is doing the work of Congress. And if you don't think everybody in Congress reads the "Times," you're delusional. Even the right. How do you think they set their agenda?
And then today we've got George Clooney. What kind of bizarre world do we live in where an actor has more credibility than an elected official? Someone who plays roles more than a supposedly honest politician. And you wonder why the public has more faith in entertainers than elected officials. We keep being told entertainers need to shut up, they're not entitled to an opinion, but they're leaders, they seem to be the only ones the public is listening to. George has kept true to form. He does not have a reputation for putting himself first, to the detriment of everyone else. Furthermore, he reported how Biden was substandard at the fundraiser in L.A. a few weeks back. Did you see any of the footage? I'd be charitable if I said Biden walked as well as Lurch.
This is why music is a second class art form these days. Clooney will go on record, but no musician. They're afraid they're going to alienate some potential fan. Where is David Crosby when you need him? Oh, that's right, six feet under. Even Graham Nash turned on Crosby, but Crosby maintained his image by speaking his truth. Why can't anybody in D.C. speak their truth? It reminds me of high school where everybody's whispering and passing notes.
The job of the president is to lead. And the other two branches of government are supposed to keep him in line. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court just upset this balance. But that doesn't mean Congress can't act, can't rein in Biden, can't tell him to go.
Who is a thinking person supposed to believe in?
We've got cartoons, superheroes, but when it comes to flesh and blood, it's a vast wasteland.
Which is why streaming TV surges. Because a lot of these shows illustrate the human condition, try to get it right. Whereas everybody in real life is afraid of going against some team, even though we're all hungering for some truth.
Makes me crazy when people say they're independents. Pierce the veil and you find out almost everyone who hides behind this moniker always votes one way or the other, for Republicans or Democrats. They're just afraid of being labeled. They want to stay above the fray, immune, appear better than the rest of us. Utter hogwash.
And I don't want to join this group, but at this point I hate both political parties, I don't want to be associated with EITHER!
You Congresspeople want the press and celebrities to do your job. That's right, YOUR job! Why don't you take a stand, publicly. Say what you believe in your heart. If you don't do so soon, you're going to bring down the entire political system. Because people like me, who've sided with you and endorsed you for decades...
Are going to abandon you.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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Listen to the podcast:
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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Maybe I'm my father's son, maybe I'm a child of the sixties, but I was taught that you stood up for what was right, consequences be damned.
Liz Cheney is a national hero despite having heinous political positions. History will be very kind to her, it will not be to the sheep who've fallen in line behind Donald Trump, who deny what we saw with our very own eyes on January 6th.
Call me a chump, but I believed in the political system. And thought that the Democrats were better than the Republicans. Now I know that is untrue. They're all pussies afraid of speaking the truth, for fear they'll lose their jobs. Isn't job number one to represent their constituencies? This proves that it is not. The Democratic public, the hoi polloi, are overwhelming in favor of Biden stepping down and being replaced. But the elected officials are not doing their job and putting forth this take. They're afraid.
Fear...
Don't confuse today's protests with those of the sixties. The culture was way ahead of D.C. The youth were pulling Washington into the present, since it had its head so far up its ass.
But today? In the era of internet and ubiquitous TV? No one is that far out of the loop. They know what is going on. But Democrats in D.C. want to be ostriches.
Let's be clear. Biden is toast. It's over. He's done. But in the process of his expulsion, the denouement, he's taking the entire Democratic party down with him, they're doing irreparable harm to the country. If we don't believe in the system, we're done.
That's what the Democrats were always told. To have faith, to believe, that the goal was to take care of everybody, build a more equitable society while we plowed into the future and got things done.
But not Saint Obama. He was so fearful of appearing the angry Black man that he never stood up to the Republicans. He kept waiting for them to come to the table, and they never did. John McCain had a bout of conscience and saved the Affordable Care Act from the cynical Republicans, but as far as leading, Obama didn't do that good a job.
Old Joe? He did great. From the start he knew the Republicans were never going to get on board, so he just marched forward. Oh, he waited too long on this and that, but he led.
Until he didn't. Until he became more concerned about keeping his job.
We keep hearing what a narcissist Donald Trump is, now we know Joe Biden is one too.
So, all those elected Democrats, the ones in the Senate and the House of Representatives, they could take a stand, say Joe has to go, but they won't, because they're wrapped up in the team.
The team will lead you right off the cliff. America is about the individual, breaking rules, dragging the rest of the nation into the future.
That's right, our heroes used to be musicians, who spoke truth as opposed to being silent for fear of denting their brand extensions. Now it's techies we worship. Move fast and break things? In D.C. it's don't move at all and don't break a single thing, don't upset the Apple cart. That's right, Apple, as in Steve Jobs, who did more for the country, more for the world than anybody in Washington. Never mind the rest of the techies.
The people in D.C. are the ones you hated in high school. You know the people who wouldn't say a single negative thing about anybody. Who boasted they got along with all groups. Meanwhile, the jocks and the cheerleaders either faded away or became drones at the corporation, that's what sports teaches you, to be part of the team. But each and every one of you remembers the weird kid in your class, who may have gone unnoticed, who may have been an object of derision, who went on to set the world on fire. They could see the landscape, they were on a mission, they wanted to make a difference, they wanted to leave their mark and no amount of negativity and blowback was going to get in their way.
Let's see... You're in Congress, fearful of coming out publicly against Biden... What's the price? You're elected by people in your state, the majority of whom want Biden gone.
As for upsetting the President, the CEO...
If you follow business history, business litigation, it used to be that being on the board was a cushy job of me-tooism that paid handsomely. But then the courts started holding these board members responsible for not reining in the CEO went they went off the reservation. Today board members are much more active, and if they see something they don't like, they resign. And if there's a crisis, they take action promptly. Sure, they're afraid of the CEO, but they're also afraid of being held legally liable, so they come up with an equitable solution.
And if you break the code of the corporation, you're instantly out, no matter how good a job you did. It could be as simple as dating someone who reports to you. As for a code of operation, isn't age and competence the number one criterion? I.e. can you do the job? If not, they oust you. After all, the board is responsible to the shareholders.
We're the shareholders in America, you and me, but our board, our elected officials, don't care what we think, they're only out for themselves.
So how am I supposed to say Democrats are better than Republicans anymore? Never mind that some of what the Republicans have said has turned out to be true. About intersectionality on campus, everything boiling down to oppressed and oppressor. Did you see those Deans texting antisemitic remarks at Columbia? They lost their jobs. But no one can lose their job in D.C. And when they're on the spot, they fight tooth and nail, for every Santos there's a Menendez and a Gaetz, never mind Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.
Remember when it was said of JFK's cabinet that they were the "Best and the Brightest"? That type is not in politics anymore. You've had to be squeaky clean to even run, never mind win. Trump broke that paradigm, we've all smoked dope, crossed the line sometimes, we should not insist our elected officials be priests and nuns, the former who've turned out to not be so princely, the light was ultimately shone upon them.
We have hard evidence. The debate, the Stephanopoulos interview. Just yesterday, George was caught on camera saying Biden can't serve another four years.
But George had to apologize. Why? He's not elected. As for speaking his personal truth, isn't that what the Fox anchors do 24/7? Why are those perceived to be on the left held to a different standard?
So it's left to the media. Anybody who has doubted the power of the "New York Times" is going to have to eat their hat when Biden steps down, because the outlet has almost single-handedly beaten and continued to beat the drum of the need for Biden to step down. The "Times" is doing the work of Congress. And if you don't think everybody in Congress reads the "Times," you're delusional. Even the right. How do you think they set their agenda?
And then today we've got George Clooney. What kind of bizarre world do we live in where an actor has more credibility than an elected official? Someone who plays roles more than a supposedly honest politician. And you wonder why the public has more faith in entertainers than elected officials. We keep being told entertainers need to shut up, they're not entitled to an opinion, but they're leaders, they seem to be the only ones the public is listening to. George has kept true to form. He does not have a reputation for putting himself first, to the detriment of everyone else. Furthermore, he reported how Biden was substandard at the fundraiser in L.A. a few weeks back. Did you see any of the footage? I'd be charitable if I said Biden walked as well as Lurch.
This is why music is a second class art form these days. Clooney will go on record, but no musician. They're afraid they're going to alienate some potential fan. Where is David Crosby when you need him? Oh, that's right, six feet under. Even Graham Nash turned on Crosby, but Crosby maintained his image by speaking his truth. Why can't anybody in D.C. speak their truth? It reminds me of high school where everybody's whispering and passing notes.
The job of the president is to lead. And the other two branches of government are supposed to keep him in line. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court just upset this balance. But that doesn't mean Congress can't act, can't rein in Biden, can't tell him to go.
Who is a thinking person supposed to believe in?
We've got cartoons, superheroes, but when it comes to flesh and blood, it's a vast wasteland.
Which is why streaming TV surges. Because a lot of these shows illustrate the human condition, try to get it right. Whereas everybody in real life is afraid of going against some team, even though we're all hungering for some truth.
Makes me crazy when people say they're independents. Pierce the veil and you find out almost everyone who hides behind this moniker always votes one way or the other, for Republicans or Democrats. They're just afraid of being labeled. They want to stay above the fray, immune, appear better than the rest of us. Utter hogwash.
And I don't want to join this group, but at this point I hate both political parties, I don't want to be associated with EITHER!
You Congresspeople want the press and celebrities to do your job. That's right, YOUR job! Why don't you take a stand, publicly. Say what you believe in your heart. If you don't do so soon, you're going to bring down the entire political system. Because people like me, who've sided with you and endorsed you for decades...
Are going to abandon you.
--
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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Tuesday 9 July 2024
Biden
He's done.
And he's the only one who doesn't know it.
If you're addicted to this story, I recommend not only that you subscribe to Apple News+. but that you click on the "Following" button in the lower right hand corner and when the menu/list comes up, select "Election 2024," right there at the top, under the heading "Special Coverage."
Of course you'll see the headlines, but that's not the nougat.
You'll scroll past said headlines, and then the podcasts, and then you'll get the "Latest Stories." Scroll past the big blue box and you'll find the "For You" section, which is the heart of the matter, to quote Don Henley.
Actually, I've been thinking about Henley for weeks now. He's got that great line in "The End of the Innocence":
"this tired old man that we elected king"
That was about Reagan, even though by time the song was released Ronald was gone, from the office and mentally. In case you're too young to remember, Reagan had Alzheimer's and they covered it up. And they wonder why no one trusts the government...
So when you get to the "Latest Stories" and "For You" sections, you will get up to the minute headlines/stories. It's better than Google, because the detritus is filtered out. Just about every news source is there, other than the "New York Times," because the Gray Lady don't need no stinkin' Apple. While the rest of print media is on its deathbed, the "Times" has burgeoned, triumphed, it's America's newspaper, no matter how much those on the right and the extreme left hate it.
And there was a trifecta of negativity posted on the "Times" site today.
You had the editorial board itself saying "The Democratic Party Must Speak the Plain Truth to the President."
Even better was "James Carville: Biden Won't Win. Democrats Need a Plan. Here's One."
And then the number one Biden defender, Paul Krugman, turned tail on the man whose economic achievements he can't stop trumpeting: "Please, Mr. President, Do the Right Thing."
Maureen Dowd even weighed in earlier in the day, breaking her once a week schedule with "Joe Biden, in the Goodest Bunker Ever." Dowd skewered the Biden team for trying to correct the Stephanopoulos transcript. Did you watch? The man was clearer, but once again you could barely hear him, his voice was so soft. And there were faux pas, the media is pointing them out ad infinitum.
But it's not only the media. On X/Twitter, Hillary Rosen, late of the RIAA, excoriated Biden for blaming it all on "elites."
"This desire to wedge the 'Dem elite' against 'regular folk' is bad. The elite are actually late to concerns about Biden. A majority of voters have been concerned about this for the last two years. And he has a 36% approval rating. If he doesn't step down to increase our chances of winning, then yeah, we'll have to circle the wagons, and I am a soldier against Trump, but please stop pretending or casting blame. President Biden and his behavior alone is responsible for this problem - not the voters, not the media, not his opponents, not the party and not the elite. #MorningJoe"
The irony is that the party elite is the cause of this problem. It's the rank and file who've been saying Biden is too old for eons.
"A New York Times/Sienna College poll last week showed that 74 percent of voters said Mr. Biden was too old to be effective, including 59 percent of Democrats."
And the piece-de-resistance came from Jon Stewart tonight, "'Get on board or shut the f*ck up' is not a particularly compelling pro-democracy bumper sticker."
It's positively laughable I tell you.
But it seems the press is the only one with balls. Except for Meathead, maybe:
"It's time to stop f*cking around... It's time for Joe Biden to step down."
That's what Rob Reiner said on X/Twitter on Sunday.
And you might think the media doesn't matter.
And you may ask yourself where is your large automobile, where is your beautiful house, where is your beautiful wife.
And then you'll realize David Byrne was prescient, for it's the same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
Joe Biden is living in the White House, defended by Jill, and it's starting to resemble high school politics. We duly elected officials will dictate!
And the students and the public will laugh.
Biden is out of touch. In some ways just like Hillary Clinton back in 2016. She couldn't sense the change in the air, that people were fed up with the politics of the day. And no one saw her as honest and trustworthy. The woman who once proffered facetiously that she could stay home and bake cookies then said her favorite book was the Bible. Talk about pandering.
But it's bigger than that. We live in a changed society. A pastrami sandwich is not only under a buck, it's over twenty dollars today, up from just under that threshold before the recent inflation. And said inflation was not caused by Biden and he did a good job of handling it, but that does not mean people are not struggling.
But how would he know? Biden's in a bubble. He's not scrolling social media, he is not taking the temperature of the country, he's just listening to what his handlers say, and they're oftentimes saying exactly what he wants to hear, or canards they want him to hear.
Used to be lawyers, businessmen, had secretaries, who were ultimately labeled "assistants," even though the job didn't change. But today everybody does their own typing. If you can't type, you're screwed. But all the young 'uns know how to type, they've been doing it on their devices since not long after birth.
And there's the generation gap.
It's a great big country and Biden is completely detached.
And what does he fall back on? THE RULES!
I'm chuckling as I write this. The law is irrelevant if you can't enforce it. And a contract oftentimes doesn't even matter. Forget the cost, both financially and to your career, of a lawsuit, many defendants are judgment proof. And even if they've got money winning and collecting are two different things. Can you say "Alex Jones?"
Anybody in business will tell you the legal system comes last. It's the option of last resort. Because the legal system is imperfect, but even more important, oftentimes it doesn't apply.
You can rely on the law, but if the court of public opinion is against you, if your team is against you, you're toast.
Like Biden.
But after playing team politics for so long, too many elected Democratic officials are afraid of going public with their truth, that they want Biden to drop out of the race. They think they might be excommunicated, like Liz Cheney. But that's the Republican party. Then again, are the Democrats now as bad?
I mean isn't that what we all want, some truth? Mr. Smith in Washington? Someone who leads?
But it's like that Snoop Dogg song, everybody's dropping it while it's hot. Hoping that someone else will do their dirty work. First and foremost, the press.
But ultimately it will probably be like Nixon. Who fought his expulsion tooth and nail, was defiant, until he wasn't. You see his own party came to the White House and said he had to go, that he couldn't beat the legal system.
And Biden can't beat Trump. He's a laughingstock for stating that if Trump wins he'll be fine with it, "as long as I gave it my all and I did the good (the White House's words, everybody else heard "goodest") as job as I know I can do..."
How narcissistic.
And the truth is it's not about Trump. This is where Biden and his team have been delusional from the start. They thought painting Trump negatively was enough to win, but this is not true, you've got to play offense, lay out a plan of action, deliver something people can believe in as opposed to trying to scare them into voting for you.
This has been hysterical, only this has been our life for almost the past two weeks.
This reminds me of Paul Tsongas, who was running for President, testifying he had beaten cancer, and then ultimately died of the disease just a few years later.
That's a politician for you. They'll say and do anything to get the job and keep it. They're about as trustworthy as a used car salesman.
And while we're talking used... Does anybody, and I mean anybody, want to put their faith in an eighty six year old to run the country? I wouldn't be surprised if Biden dies before that age. But he's going to will himself to live and be cogent, if not spry, long beyond that.
I've got cancer. And I'm going to tell you what the research says, that believing you'll beat it has no effect on the disease. It runs its own course. Believe all you want, but if the genetics say you're going to go, you're going to be history.
But this is the same America where the short believe they can play in the NBA. The untalented believe they can be musical stars. Everybody feels entitled to success in their vertical of choice, but that's not the way it works, never has and never will.
The doors are closing on Biden and he thinks they're wide open. That by trying to defend a piss-poor performance that was beyond a bad night he can make people deny what they saw, never mind instituting his action plan more than a week after the incident.
And there were the questions for that radio interview... The host lost their job over that, why not Biden? Who is horrific off the cuff, but not too good even if there's a script. Talk about making a hash of the language, to the point where people aren't even sure of the point he was making.
Biden is going to wake up when he's forced to. Oh, he'll never admit he's not worthy of running, not a feisty on the ball man, but they're going to take the ball from him just like they do from the starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Yes, when the pitcher shows signs of tiredness, weakness, they pull him and replace him. But we can't do that with Biden, he earned his place in the race!
What a crock of crap.
Once again, the rules are guidelines, they are enforced at the will of the people, who don't always abide by them.
So how does it end for Biden?
As Ernest Hemingway put it... "Gradually, then suddenly."
NEXT!
--
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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And he's the only one who doesn't know it.
If you're addicted to this story, I recommend not only that you subscribe to Apple News+. but that you click on the "Following" button in the lower right hand corner and when the menu/list comes up, select "Election 2024," right there at the top, under the heading "Special Coverage."
Of course you'll see the headlines, but that's not the nougat.
You'll scroll past said headlines, and then the podcasts, and then you'll get the "Latest Stories." Scroll past the big blue box and you'll find the "For You" section, which is the heart of the matter, to quote Don Henley.
Actually, I've been thinking about Henley for weeks now. He's got that great line in "The End of the Innocence":
"this tired old man that we elected king"
That was about Reagan, even though by time the song was released Ronald was gone, from the office and mentally. In case you're too young to remember, Reagan had Alzheimer's and they covered it up. And they wonder why no one trusts the government...
So when you get to the "Latest Stories" and "For You" sections, you will get up to the minute headlines/stories. It's better than Google, because the detritus is filtered out. Just about every news source is there, other than the "New York Times," because the Gray Lady don't need no stinkin' Apple. While the rest of print media is on its deathbed, the "Times" has burgeoned, triumphed, it's America's newspaper, no matter how much those on the right and the extreme left hate it.
And there was a trifecta of negativity posted on the "Times" site today.
You had the editorial board itself saying "The Democratic Party Must Speak the Plain Truth to the President."
Even better was "James Carville: Biden Won't Win. Democrats Need a Plan. Here's One."
And then the number one Biden defender, Paul Krugman, turned tail on the man whose economic achievements he can't stop trumpeting: "Please, Mr. President, Do the Right Thing."
Maureen Dowd even weighed in earlier in the day, breaking her once a week schedule with "Joe Biden, in the Goodest Bunker Ever." Dowd skewered the Biden team for trying to correct the Stephanopoulos transcript. Did you watch? The man was clearer, but once again you could barely hear him, his voice was so soft. And there were faux pas, the media is pointing them out ad infinitum.
But it's not only the media. On X/Twitter, Hillary Rosen, late of the RIAA, excoriated Biden for blaming it all on "elites."
"This desire to wedge the 'Dem elite' against 'regular folk' is bad. The elite are actually late to concerns about Biden. A majority of voters have been concerned about this for the last two years. And he has a 36% approval rating. If he doesn't step down to increase our chances of winning, then yeah, we'll have to circle the wagons, and I am a soldier against Trump, but please stop pretending or casting blame. President Biden and his behavior alone is responsible for this problem - not the voters, not the media, not his opponents, not the party and not the elite. #MorningJoe"
The irony is that the party elite is the cause of this problem. It's the rank and file who've been saying Biden is too old for eons.
"A New York Times/Sienna College poll last week showed that 74 percent of voters said Mr. Biden was too old to be effective, including 59 percent of Democrats."
And the piece-de-resistance came from Jon Stewart tonight, "'Get on board or shut the f*ck up' is not a particularly compelling pro-democracy bumper sticker."
It's positively laughable I tell you.
But it seems the press is the only one with balls. Except for Meathead, maybe:
"It's time to stop f*cking around... It's time for Joe Biden to step down."
That's what Rob Reiner said on X/Twitter on Sunday.
And you might think the media doesn't matter.
And you may ask yourself where is your large automobile, where is your beautiful house, where is your beautiful wife.
And then you'll realize David Byrne was prescient, for it's the same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
Joe Biden is living in the White House, defended by Jill, and it's starting to resemble high school politics. We duly elected officials will dictate!
And the students and the public will laugh.
Biden is out of touch. In some ways just like Hillary Clinton back in 2016. She couldn't sense the change in the air, that people were fed up with the politics of the day. And no one saw her as honest and trustworthy. The woman who once proffered facetiously that she could stay home and bake cookies then said her favorite book was the Bible. Talk about pandering.
But it's bigger than that. We live in a changed society. A pastrami sandwich is not only under a buck, it's over twenty dollars today, up from just under that threshold before the recent inflation. And said inflation was not caused by Biden and he did a good job of handling it, but that does not mean people are not struggling.
But how would he know? Biden's in a bubble. He's not scrolling social media, he is not taking the temperature of the country, he's just listening to what his handlers say, and they're oftentimes saying exactly what he wants to hear, or canards they want him to hear.
Used to be lawyers, businessmen, had secretaries, who were ultimately labeled "assistants," even though the job didn't change. But today everybody does their own typing. If you can't type, you're screwed. But all the young 'uns know how to type, they've been doing it on their devices since not long after birth.
And there's the generation gap.
It's a great big country and Biden is completely detached.
And what does he fall back on? THE RULES!
I'm chuckling as I write this. The law is irrelevant if you can't enforce it. And a contract oftentimes doesn't even matter. Forget the cost, both financially and to your career, of a lawsuit, many defendants are judgment proof. And even if they've got money winning and collecting are two different things. Can you say "Alex Jones?"
Anybody in business will tell you the legal system comes last. It's the option of last resort. Because the legal system is imperfect, but even more important, oftentimes it doesn't apply.
You can rely on the law, but if the court of public opinion is against you, if your team is against you, you're toast.
Like Biden.
But after playing team politics for so long, too many elected Democratic officials are afraid of going public with their truth, that they want Biden to drop out of the race. They think they might be excommunicated, like Liz Cheney. But that's the Republican party. Then again, are the Democrats now as bad?
I mean isn't that what we all want, some truth? Mr. Smith in Washington? Someone who leads?
But it's like that Snoop Dogg song, everybody's dropping it while it's hot. Hoping that someone else will do their dirty work. First and foremost, the press.
But ultimately it will probably be like Nixon. Who fought his expulsion tooth and nail, was defiant, until he wasn't. You see his own party came to the White House and said he had to go, that he couldn't beat the legal system.
And Biden can't beat Trump. He's a laughingstock for stating that if Trump wins he'll be fine with it, "as long as I gave it my all and I did the good (the White House's words, everybody else heard "goodest") as job as I know I can do..."
How narcissistic.
And the truth is it's not about Trump. This is where Biden and his team have been delusional from the start. They thought painting Trump negatively was enough to win, but this is not true, you've got to play offense, lay out a plan of action, deliver something people can believe in as opposed to trying to scare them into voting for you.
This has been hysterical, only this has been our life for almost the past two weeks.
This reminds me of Paul Tsongas, who was running for President, testifying he had beaten cancer, and then ultimately died of the disease just a few years later.
That's a politician for you. They'll say and do anything to get the job and keep it. They're about as trustworthy as a used car salesman.
And while we're talking used... Does anybody, and I mean anybody, want to put their faith in an eighty six year old to run the country? I wouldn't be surprised if Biden dies before that age. But he's going to will himself to live and be cogent, if not spry, long beyond that.
I've got cancer. And I'm going to tell you what the research says, that believing you'll beat it has no effect on the disease. It runs its own course. Believe all you want, but if the genetics say you're going to go, you're going to be history.
But this is the same America where the short believe they can play in the NBA. The untalented believe they can be musical stars. Everybody feels entitled to success in their vertical of choice, but that's not the way it works, never has and never will.
The doors are closing on Biden and he thinks they're wide open. That by trying to defend a piss-poor performance that was beyond a bad night he can make people deny what they saw, never mind instituting his action plan more than a week after the incident.
And there were the questions for that radio interview... The host lost their job over that, why not Biden? Who is horrific off the cuff, but not too good even if there's a script. Talk about making a hash of the language, to the point where people aren't even sure of the point he was making.
Biden is going to wake up when he's forced to. Oh, he'll never admit he's not worthy of running, not a feisty on the ball man, but they're going to take the ball from him just like they do from the starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Yes, when the pitcher shows signs of tiredness, weakness, they pull him and replace him. But we can't do that with Biden, he earned his place in the race!
What a crock of crap.
Once again, the rules are guidelines, they are enforced at the will of the people, who don't always abide by them.
So how does it end for Biden?
As Ernest Hemingway put it... "Gradually, then suddenly."
NEXT!
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Monday 8 July 2024
You Are Here
https://t.ly/qKpqg
This is for all of you who complain too many books are bummers.
You know David Nicholls. Probably through "One Day." It was a movie and now a series on Netflix. Not that I've seen either. I rarely watch a production of something I've read, it's too compressed, it's not the vision I have in my head, it's always inferior to the reading experience, The only movie that I've ever seen that is better than the book is "Wonder Boys," you know, the film with the last great Bob Dylan song, "Things Have Changed."
And there's a similarity here in that I read Michael Chabon's "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and then had to read its follow-up, the aforementioned "Wonder Boys." But unlike with David Nicholls, I haven't read all of Chabon's work, despite the hosannas, I too often found it was a bit difficult and didn't resonate, however I did enjoy "Telegraph Avenue."
I started with "One Day," Nicholls's 2009 book. I read a review and then purchased it on Amazon just after I got my Kindle. Nicholls's books are slight, but somewhat literary. You don't feel like you're slumming.
And the feeling of "Sweet Sorrow" really resonated with me, so I reserved the new one, "You Are Here."
Which I completely missed the hype on. I stumbled on it in some reading I did. How could David Nicholls have a new book and I not be aware of it? That's the modern era, blink and you miss it.
So on the surface, "You Are Here" seems simple. It's about a hike across England and you know there's going to be a romance. In other words, it's pretty predictable. But not completely. And although I am now inspired to walk across England, what impressed me most was the nailing of the inner dialogue of romance, how the individual feels and acts, the nature of connection.
You've got your eyes on someone...
Maybe someone set you up, and you end up wondering if they even know you.
That's the point. Marnie wants to exchange stories. She doesn't want to be bored by a pharmacist talking about Formula One.
There might be women who want the external, who are entranced by the penumbra, how someone looks, what they own, how much money they have, but the majority want someone they can connect with, that they can talk to, who will listen to them, who they can exchange stories with.
What does it take to open someone up? Is it even possible to open them up?
And to what degree are you haunted by your baggage, do you own it, do you reveal it?
Get to a certain age and we all have romantic failures. And no matter what happened, we don't feel completely good about them. I was listening to a podcast with Bill Maher and Penn Jillette and Maher said he is still haunted by the teenage girlfriend who dumped him. That's how deep it cuts, not that you can get many men to admit it.
Marnie is too isolated. She works at home and is not rolling in dough. And as the years have passed...she notices the change.
Michael is a teacher who is stuck. Covid led to his wife moving out... (Yes, we now have books where Covid is a feature, not a bug.) And on some level he's not living in the real world, he's on his own planet, he believes the solitary life works for him, but does it really?
So the whole book is about Marnie and Michael coming together. You can see it from page one. But the description of who everybody is, their inner thoughts, makes the book worth reading.
I mean to what degree are we trapped by our choices, how do we get out of our own ruts? Have we lost touch with what we used to want? Are we burdened by our losses?
But there's that spark.
And a lot of missed signals.
"You Are Here" is an easy read. Two days if you want. Maybe less. But even though I knew where it was going, a whole world was created, and not only did I end up knowing these people, I could see myself in some of these characters.
--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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This is for all of you who complain too many books are bummers.
You know David Nicholls. Probably through "One Day." It was a movie and now a series on Netflix. Not that I've seen either. I rarely watch a production of something I've read, it's too compressed, it's not the vision I have in my head, it's always inferior to the reading experience, The only movie that I've ever seen that is better than the book is "Wonder Boys," you know, the film with the last great Bob Dylan song, "Things Have Changed."
And there's a similarity here in that I read Michael Chabon's "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and then had to read its follow-up, the aforementioned "Wonder Boys." But unlike with David Nicholls, I haven't read all of Chabon's work, despite the hosannas, I too often found it was a bit difficult and didn't resonate, however I did enjoy "Telegraph Avenue."
I started with "One Day," Nicholls's 2009 book. I read a review and then purchased it on Amazon just after I got my Kindle. Nicholls's books are slight, but somewhat literary. You don't feel like you're slumming.
And the feeling of "Sweet Sorrow" really resonated with me, so I reserved the new one, "You Are Here."
Which I completely missed the hype on. I stumbled on it in some reading I did. How could David Nicholls have a new book and I not be aware of it? That's the modern era, blink and you miss it.
So on the surface, "You Are Here" seems simple. It's about a hike across England and you know there's going to be a romance. In other words, it's pretty predictable. But not completely. And although I am now inspired to walk across England, what impressed me most was the nailing of the inner dialogue of romance, how the individual feels and acts, the nature of connection.
You've got your eyes on someone...
Maybe someone set you up, and you end up wondering if they even know you.
That's the point. Marnie wants to exchange stories. She doesn't want to be bored by a pharmacist talking about Formula One.
There might be women who want the external, who are entranced by the penumbra, how someone looks, what they own, how much money they have, but the majority want someone they can connect with, that they can talk to, who will listen to them, who they can exchange stories with.
What does it take to open someone up? Is it even possible to open them up?
And to what degree are you haunted by your baggage, do you own it, do you reveal it?
Get to a certain age and we all have romantic failures. And no matter what happened, we don't feel completely good about them. I was listening to a podcast with Bill Maher and Penn Jillette and Maher said he is still haunted by the teenage girlfriend who dumped him. That's how deep it cuts, not that you can get many men to admit it.
Marnie is too isolated. She works at home and is not rolling in dough. And as the years have passed...she notices the change.
Michael is a teacher who is stuck. Covid led to his wife moving out... (Yes, we now have books where Covid is a feature, not a bug.) And on some level he's not living in the real world, he's on his own planet, he believes the solitary life works for him, but does it really?
So the whole book is about Marnie and Michael coming together. You can see it from page one. But the description of who everybody is, their inner thoughts, makes the book worth reading.
I mean to what degree are we trapped by our choices, how do we get out of our own ruts? Have we lost touch with what we used to want? Are we burdened by our losses?
But there's that spark.
And a lot of missed signals.
"You Are Here" is an easy read. Two days if you want. Maybe less. But even though I knew where it was going, a whole world was created, and not only did I end up knowing these people, I could see myself in some of these characters.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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All Fours
https://t.ly/5zw97
This is a wild book.
What do I know about Miranda July? That she was part of the riot grrrl scene, that she was more than a musician, a performance artist, and although exalted, she lived on the fringe of commerciality.
Which delivered a ton of credibility, then again it was not easy for me to get over the change of her name from Grossinger to July (not that I knew it had been Grossinger, I learned that from Wikipedia doing research about her after starting the book). When someone has a generic last name, nothing you'd find out in the wild, it kind of sticks in my craw. It's such a statement.
But the bottom line is Miranda lived on my periphery. I knew who she was, kinda, but my knowledge was barely an inch deep.
And then "All Fours" got great reviews. Made the best seller list. And that interested me. Because I knew July was left of center, I knew she would produce something different, far from traditional, and that's the kind of thing that intrigues me. Although July is only fifty, this challenge of orthodoxy, coloring outside the lines, is a value we had in the sixties, and I miss it.
Not that I would have laid down cash, I reserved "All Fours" at the library, via Libby, which I highly recommend. Did you see the Kindle is having a revival as a result of BookTok?
"How the Kindle Became a Must-Have Accessory (Again) - the e-reader has become the gadget of choice on #BookTok"
Free link: https://t.ly/KtAt0
You know I've got a bug up my butt about the Kindle backlash. The naysayers, the Luddites, lost in music, the CD died and streaming took over, but the oldsters who control the book business stopped the Kindle in its tracks, because reading must be done on paper, they like the feel of a physical book, and they like displaying the spine in their collection to impress guests, even though they'll probably never pick up the book again. But just like with MP3s and streaming, the little girls understand. And women do drive the book business, and when you try to impress your set in mud beliefs upon younger generations, they often reject them, be wary of this.
So I started reading "All Fours" and it was not what all the reviews said it was about, menopause.
Now maybe if you're a male you're not interested in menopause. But I'll tell you you are interested in girls, and the more insight you gain into the opposite sex the more headway you'll make, you want to show interest, compassion, understanding.
Not that I recommend the average male pick up "All Fours," I think many couldn't handle it, or wouldn't be interested.
And in truth at first I wasn't interested either. I stopped and started multiple times.
But then the book started to pick up.
Let's see, there's a cross-country trip. And classification of those who do such a thing and those who don't, Drivers and Parkers. Which one are you?
Oh, let me add that what kept me reading was when the main character said she was working all the time and missing out on life. She loved to work, she needed to get ahead, but what experiences eluded her? This is a question those trying to get somewhere ask ourselves on a regular basis, especially in this world where all the wasted time has been excised by Covid. That's right, the drive to the doctor, that's been eliminated, so many appointments are virtual. You have to make an effort to socialize outside work, it's not easy to do and you're constantly asking yourself whether you're wasting time.
And then the book takes a left turn. It's fantastical. Money is spent on something no one would ever lay down for. You think you're living in a world that has no relation to reality.
But then it all starts to make sense.
And about sixty percent of the way through menopause finally starts to be mentioned.
Let me ask you, do you still feel sexy, desirable? Men and women. Do you think genetics has something to do with your loss of libido? This is investigated in "All Fours," yet not so much clinically but in a frenzy of the individual dealing with aging and being concerned with time passing them by.
And crushes... Do you act on them?
And what is a marriage anyway?
In truth, "All Fours" tracks relatively closely to July's life. But write what you know, right?
And it still takes a while to get into. It's not difficult, but you just don't know where it's going, you're not hooked.
And then you are.
"All Fours" has an artistic sensibility. You know, one in which money doesn't come first. Where it's all about asking questions and pushing boundaries.
If you're over forty and a woman, I highly recommend "All Fours."
Then again, if you're hooked on nonfiction, if your books need to be set centuries ago, if questioning everything about your life doesn't resonate, maybe it's not for you.
And men...
"All Fours" is a cultural landmark. It's anything but me-too. You haven't read anything like it. But it's not like Jennifer Egan, "All Fours" does not come from a literary tradition. It comes from...
A riot grrrl tradition. As in a rock sensibility that believes women have power and can do exactly what the men do. Furthermore, everything is up for grabs, norms, if not thrown completely out the window, need to be questioned.
"All Fours" is not the kind of literary fiction your facilitated book group will read, but it will engender tons of conversation nonetheless.
I finished it almost a week ago, but I keep thinking about it. I'm not haunted by it, and it's not so much about the questions, but throwing off the shackles, a life in which everything is up for grabs, after all we only get one chance at life and we want to make the most of it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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This is a wild book.
What do I know about Miranda July? That she was part of the riot grrrl scene, that she was more than a musician, a performance artist, and although exalted, she lived on the fringe of commerciality.
Which delivered a ton of credibility, then again it was not easy for me to get over the change of her name from Grossinger to July (not that I knew it had been Grossinger, I learned that from Wikipedia doing research about her after starting the book). When someone has a generic last name, nothing you'd find out in the wild, it kind of sticks in my craw. It's such a statement.
But the bottom line is Miranda lived on my periphery. I knew who she was, kinda, but my knowledge was barely an inch deep.
And then "All Fours" got great reviews. Made the best seller list. And that interested me. Because I knew July was left of center, I knew she would produce something different, far from traditional, and that's the kind of thing that intrigues me. Although July is only fifty, this challenge of orthodoxy, coloring outside the lines, is a value we had in the sixties, and I miss it.
Not that I would have laid down cash, I reserved "All Fours" at the library, via Libby, which I highly recommend. Did you see the Kindle is having a revival as a result of BookTok?
"How the Kindle Became a Must-Have Accessory (Again) - the e-reader has become the gadget of choice on #BookTok"
Free link: https://t.ly/KtAt0
You know I've got a bug up my butt about the Kindle backlash. The naysayers, the Luddites, lost in music, the CD died and streaming took over, but the oldsters who control the book business stopped the Kindle in its tracks, because reading must be done on paper, they like the feel of a physical book, and they like displaying the spine in their collection to impress guests, even though they'll probably never pick up the book again. But just like with MP3s and streaming, the little girls understand. And women do drive the book business, and when you try to impress your set in mud beliefs upon younger generations, they often reject them, be wary of this.
So I started reading "All Fours" and it was not what all the reviews said it was about, menopause.
Now maybe if you're a male you're not interested in menopause. But I'll tell you you are interested in girls, and the more insight you gain into the opposite sex the more headway you'll make, you want to show interest, compassion, understanding.
Not that I recommend the average male pick up "All Fours," I think many couldn't handle it, or wouldn't be interested.
And in truth at first I wasn't interested either. I stopped and started multiple times.
But then the book started to pick up.
Let's see, there's a cross-country trip. And classification of those who do such a thing and those who don't, Drivers and Parkers. Which one are you?
Oh, let me add that what kept me reading was when the main character said she was working all the time and missing out on life. She loved to work, she needed to get ahead, but what experiences eluded her? This is a question those trying to get somewhere ask ourselves on a regular basis, especially in this world where all the wasted time has been excised by Covid. That's right, the drive to the doctor, that's been eliminated, so many appointments are virtual. You have to make an effort to socialize outside work, it's not easy to do and you're constantly asking yourself whether you're wasting time.
And then the book takes a left turn. It's fantastical. Money is spent on something no one would ever lay down for. You think you're living in a world that has no relation to reality.
But then it all starts to make sense.
And about sixty percent of the way through menopause finally starts to be mentioned.
Let me ask you, do you still feel sexy, desirable? Men and women. Do you think genetics has something to do with your loss of libido? This is investigated in "All Fours," yet not so much clinically but in a frenzy of the individual dealing with aging and being concerned with time passing them by.
And crushes... Do you act on them?
And what is a marriage anyway?
In truth, "All Fours" tracks relatively closely to July's life. But write what you know, right?
And it still takes a while to get into. It's not difficult, but you just don't know where it's going, you're not hooked.
And then you are.
"All Fours" has an artistic sensibility. You know, one in which money doesn't come first. Where it's all about asking questions and pushing boundaries.
If you're over forty and a woman, I highly recommend "All Fours."
Then again, if you're hooked on nonfiction, if your books need to be set centuries ago, if questioning everything about your life doesn't resonate, maybe it's not for you.
And men...
"All Fours" is a cultural landmark. It's anything but me-too. You haven't read anything like it. But it's not like Jennifer Egan, "All Fours" does not come from a literary tradition. It comes from...
A riot grrrl tradition. As in a rock sensibility that believes women have power and can do exactly what the men do. Furthermore, everything is up for grabs, norms, if not thrown completely out the window, need to be questioned.
"All Fours" is not the kind of literary fiction your facilitated book group will read, but it will engender tons of conversation nonetheless.
I finished it almost a week ago, but I keep thinking about it. I'm not haunted by it, and it's not so much about the questions, but throwing off the shackles, a life in which everything is up for grabs, after all we only get one chance at life and we want to make the most of it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Production
The three major labels are not releasing enough product.
You'll find this interesting:
"Netflix, Amazon Lead With 53% of Original Streaming Title Orders in First Quarter of 2024, Study Finds - The growth comes from increased investment in international territories, according to Ampere Analysis": https://t.ly/GKdEC
Production at Netflix and Amazon is dramatically up, meanwhile, their competitors are hardly making anything at all. Look at the graph.
How are you supposed to win if you do not play?
The majors are operating on a dead paradigm. The same one that killed the movie studios. Make less product and have it theoretically appeal to everybody while marketing the hell out of it.
Meanwhile, the niches are triumphing.
In movies you've got moonshots. A lot of sequels. Despite the hosannas over this past weekend's grosses, with the success of the latest Minions and Pixar movies, the road does not go on forever, at some point the public burns out on what you've been purveying, then you're screwed.
Netflix gets bigger and its competitors keep falling further behind. If this were the labels, they'd rest on their laurels, but Netflix is doubling-down. It is not worried so much about this quarter's profit, but profit down the line.
Now Lucian Grainge bought market share when Universal purchased EMI. But that was about history, that was about catalog, that was not about the future.
And that's what the labels rely on, catalog, it's nearly free money.
But they are hemorrhaging market share in the new music world. They've streamlined the operation, there is very little investment, today it's about growth, not quarterly Wall Street numbers.
We live in an era of niches. And when it comes to new product, you must release a ton of it, because you never know what will resonate with the public.
There's less and less of a reason to sign with a major label. It's not interesting in building from the bottom, only from the top. It doesn't want small projects, just like the movie studios. And look where that led them, their lunch was eaten by Netflix.
Now is the time for the majors to staff up, to release more product, to prepare for the future. Now it's more like the sixties and the seventies, never mind eighties.
Both movies and music were warped by the blockbuster mentality. It started with "Jaws" and "Star Wars" in movies, and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and a bunch of diamond certifications in music thereafter.
But those days are through. As is MTV, which powered the success of so much of that product. Hell, Paramount Global was just sold at the equivalent of a fire sale price. Why? Because the business didn't invest in the future, there was no vision, only maintenance. If you don't have a plan for the future, you're going to be eclipsed.
What exactly is the plan for the major labels?
More records in more genres. Period. That's how you prepare for the future.
The labels have a misconception that they can hoover up any act that is successful in the independent sphere. But the price is too high. Acts no longer want to give up that action. It might be worth it if you've got a Spotify Top 50 hit, but most acts today fall outside that construct. Radio doesn't help them and TV has become irrelevant. What is the label going to do for its money? It looks like a bad deal. And it's only going to get worse. We're at the tipping point now.
The labels believe we live in a pop world. But that would be ignoring the jet fuel of this business, the left field, the different, the alternative, which burgeoned in the late sixties and seventies on FM. Never in the history of the music business has it been less about hits, NEVER!
But the labels are still focusing on the hit business. Still locked into release schedules.
All bets are off today. It's all about innovation, risk. Gaining traction with the public is a difficult, nearly impossible task. Which is why you must play more often, which is why Netflix and Amazon are making so much product.
The barriers to entry in the live business are substantial. Good luck competing with AEG or Live Nation. But Universal, Sony and Warner? Piece of cake. Of course they've got a financial advantage, the revenue thrown off from their catalogs, but concomitantly the cost of production and the barrier to entry has never been lower.
The labels don't want to start something, they want to finish it. They don't want to nurture from scratch, they want to glom on to the project. The first thing they'll ask you is about your socials, isn't it their job to build your career?
You have to build it, or buy those who build it. This is what happens in tech. Microsoft lost a step because it wasn't innovative, it purchased its OS and then built upon it. It wasn't until recently that the company has recovered.
As for Amazon... It's well-documented that the company is driven by AWS, Amazon Web Services, and that has nothing to do with retail.
Apple buys less and believes in innovation. Will the juggernaut continue as Steve Jobs retreats further and further into the rearview mirror?
Music is the most nimble of art forms. But it's become the most complacent, the most stable seen through the lens of the major label. Do we need another pop star, another rapper? Now is the time klezmer music can break through. And its audience might be limited, but when you combine it with folk, bluegrass, electronica and the rest of the niches you have a monolith. And one leg supports the edifice when another fails.
This is what happened in the ski business. If you own multiple ski resorts around the world, you can still succeed if weather is bad in one area. The successes make up for the losses. But you've got to prepare for this game. You've got to have vision.
There's no vision in the major label world.
--
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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You'll find this interesting:
"Netflix, Amazon Lead With 53% of Original Streaming Title Orders in First Quarter of 2024, Study Finds - The growth comes from increased investment in international territories, according to Ampere Analysis": https://t.ly/GKdEC
Production at Netflix and Amazon is dramatically up, meanwhile, their competitors are hardly making anything at all. Look at the graph.
How are you supposed to win if you do not play?
The majors are operating on a dead paradigm. The same one that killed the movie studios. Make less product and have it theoretically appeal to everybody while marketing the hell out of it.
Meanwhile, the niches are triumphing.
In movies you've got moonshots. A lot of sequels. Despite the hosannas over this past weekend's grosses, with the success of the latest Minions and Pixar movies, the road does not go on forever, at some point the public burns out on what you've been purveying, then you're screwed.
Netflix gets bigger and its competitors keep falling further behind. If this were the labels, they'd rest on their laurels, but Netflix is doubling-down. It is not worried so much about this quarter's profit, but profit down the line.
Now Lucian Grainge bought market share when Universal purchased EMI. But that was about history, that was about catalog, that was not about the future.
And that's what the labels rely on, catalog, it's nearly free money.
But they are hemorrhaging market share in the new music world. They've streamlined the operation, there is very little investment, today it's about growth, not quarterly Wall Street numbers.
We live in an era of niches. And when it comes to new product, you must release a ton of it, because you never know what will resonate with the public.
There's less and less of a reason to sign with a major label. It's not interesting in building from the bottom, only from the top. It doesn't want small projects, just like the movie studios. And look where that led them, their lunch was eaten by Netflix.
Now is the time for the majors to staff up, to release more product, to prepare for the future. Now it's more like the sixties and the seventies, never mind eighties.
Both movies and music were warped by the blockbuster mentality. It started with "Jaws" and "Star Wars" in movies, and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and a bunch of diamond certifications in music thereafter.
But those days are through. As is MTV, which powered the success of so much of that product. Hell, Paramount Global was just sold at the equivalent of a fire sale price. Why? Because the business didn't invest in the future, there was no vision, only maintenance. If you don't have a plan for the future, you're going to be eclipsed.
What exactly is the plan for the major labels?
More records in more genres. Period. That's how you prepare for the future.
The labels have a misconception that they can hoover up any act that is successful in the independent sphere. But the price is too high. Acts no longer want to give up that action. It might be worth it if you've got a Spotify Top 50 hit, but most acts today fall outside that construct. Radio doesn't help them and TV has become irrelevant. What is the label going to do for its money? It looks like a bad deal. And it's only going to get worse. We're at the tipping point now.
The labels believe we live in a pop world. But that would be ignoring the jet fuel of this business, the left field, the different, the alternative, which burgeoned in the late sixties and seventies on FM. Never in the history of the music business has it been less about hits, NEVER!
But the labels are still focusing on the hit business. Still locked into release schedules.
All bets are off today. It's all about innovation, risk. Gaining traction with the public is a difficult, nearly impossible task. Which is why you must play more often, which is why Netflix and Amazon are making so much product.
The barriers to entry in the live business are substantial. Good luck competing with AEG or Live Nation. But Universal, Sony and Warner? Piece of cake. Of course they've got a financial advantage, the revenue thrown off from their catalogs, but concomitantly the cost of production and the barrier to entry has never been lower.
The labels don't want to start something, they want to finish it. They don't want to nurture from scratch, they want to glom on to the project. The first thing they'll ask you is about your socials, isn't it their job to build your career?
You have to build it, or buy those who build it. This is what happens in tech. Microsoft lost a step because it wasn't innovative, it purchased its OS and then built upon it. It wasn't until recently that the company has recovered.
As for Amazon... It's well-documented that the company is driven by AWS, Amazon Web Services, and that has nothing to do with retail.
Apple buys less and believes in innovation. Will the juggernaut continue as Steve Jobs retreats further and further into the rearview mirror?
Music is the most nimble of art forms. But it's become the most complacent, the most stable seen through the lens of the major label. Do we need another pop star, another rapper? Now is the time klezmer music can break through. And its audience might be limited, but when you combine it with folk, bluegrass, electronica and the rest of the niches you have a monolith. And one leg supports the edifice when another fails.
This is what happened in the ski business. If you own multiple ski resorts around the world, you can still succeed if weather is bad in one area. The successes make up for the losses. But you've got to prepare for this game. You've got to have vision.
There's no vision in the major label world.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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Sunday 7 July 2024
Reach
Don't confuse consumption with reach.
In other words, today's metrics, which are really yesterday's metrics, don't give an accurate picture of what is happening in the landscape, they don't indicate how big an act is, rather how many times one person listened to one song.
Think about that. In the pre-internet days of scarcity it was all about getting on a platform with reach. Radio was number one for music. How many people were actually listening to a radio station when your record was played? And if it was played in the middle of the night, the so-called "lunar rotation," you might be able to use that number to manipulate the chart but it didn't indicate you had any real listeners. In other words, how many people were listening to the number one station in the middle of the night?
And then there was television. Too expensive for record companies to advertise. But the Fortune 500 and more... This is how they reached the most people. Their commercials were blasted to many, how many truly cared, how many bought the product?
But commercials didn't pay dividends, i.e. direct cash. Whereas radio did and still does. Spin it and there are performing royalties paid on the song. And outside the U.S., there's a payment on the recording as well.
But today? The broad to many? That paradigm is out the window, now it's all direct to one.
Think about that... Seen any banner ads recently? Like me you probably have an ad-blocker installed on your browser. The truth is banner ads have been proven to be ineffective. In a one to one world, the one to many is easily ignored, just like people started skipping commercials on broadcast TV, whether it be via flipping the channels or recording on a VCR or a digital device.
Broadcast and basic cable TV still have ads and still reach people, but their audiences have shrunk to the point where they reach very few of the target audience. In other words, if you want to reach the under twenty age group, spending on network TV ads is like burning money, because that demo doesn't consume that way.
Ditto radio.
We live in a disinformation age. Everyone's a winner, everyone has gigantic impact, nothing dies, everything lives on, like terrestrial radio.
When you find the person under twenty five still listening to terrestrial music radio let me know, because I haven't found them yet. And I ask this demo whenever I encounter them.
Meanwhile, this is the number one way traditional record labels promote records. Think about that. I mean there is a radio business, but its reach is so insignificant as to not be a focus of the younger purveyors. They want to make it on TikTok, where the audience is.
In other words, big f*cking deal you're number one at terrestrial radio. Especially if it's in some niche format. Can you sell any tickets? Probably not, because very few people are listening to the music!
But let's not punch a hole in the balloon, the industries, both record and broadcasting, don't like it! They live in an ancient bubble, in denial, just like Biden. They cherry-pick their statistics, because the real ones are scary.
Like the Spotify Top 50. That's about consumption. Pure and simple. Whether someone listened or not. If you're a fan and are not listening, it doesn't make any difference. And, of course, it's not only Spotify, but Apple, Amazon and YouTube and...
In order to make money, people have to consume.
But that's not the only way to make money today. Even though oldsters and wannabes can't stop bitching how the game is rigged against them. I ask you, in what other world do you get paid if people don't consume?
So, we're told the Spotify Top 50 is the main metric. Yes, there's a manipulated Luminate chart, factoring in vinyl and even downloads, but unless they're boasting of some success, everybody at the record company looks to Spotify, because not only does it have the most market share, that's where active listeners are. In other words, you might get paid more per stream on Apple, but that just means fewer people are listening.
But math was rarely a musician's strong suit.
So in the old days you broadcasted widely in order to get people to buy the music. Broadcasting was the number one way most people consumed. But that's no longer the case. Most people pick and choose what they want to listen to. Spotify tells us that. And active users barely employ playlists. Playlists are today's equivalent of Muzak, background music, but since occasionally a playlisted track/act breaks out, we get all this focus on playlisting when it's worth very little.
But assuming your music is listened to...
That could be the same cadre of people streaming 24/7.
Let me put it another way. Phish plays arenas, goes on tour and sells out consistently. How big is Phish? TINY! That's not a put-down, just perspective. The band has no reach, it's got a hard core supporting them, and that's just fine, but don't let the grosses misinform you.
Having said that, you can be in the Spotify Top 50 and not be able to sell out a club. You're hot in a narrow world. That's right, the Spotify Top 50 is niche. Think about that. The number one way people consume the most music is a gnat on the ass of the music world.
But don't go too far in the other direction. With nearly a hundred categories, winning a Grammy means almost nothing either. Not even at the top of the heap, the big awards anymore. There used to a bump, sales, but that's history. The audience is too sophisticated, they already know the hits. As for those in categories way down the list... They get a Grammy even though in many cases they're lucky if a few thousand people even listened to their music. That's right, Grammys today are the equivalent of giving every kid a sports trophy. They're neither indicative of talent nor achievement.
But that's the way our whole music world has gone.
We keep being told the acts in the Spotify Top 50 are superstars. But most people, MOST PEOPLE, have never even heard these tracks. Think about that, in the old days of terrestrial radio you winced when you heard the same song you hated over and over again, but there were no options, there were very few stations that played the kind of music you liked.
But today?
You have a cornucopia of options.
But the music industry has been fighting this ever since Napster.
You can't break out the single from the album. Remember that fight? You don't go against what the people want, they didn't want the dreck that surrounded the hit.
The consumer is in control today.
And you need an audience, that consumes your music, but that does not mean you have any reach.
Another way performers used to gain reach was being the opening act for a headliner who sold a great number of tickets. This worked in the sixties, into the seventies when the opening acts were chosen to align with the music of the star, but those days are through. Now, oftentimes it's just about getting an act to play cheaply. And people don't even arrive for the opening act, they don't want anything they don't want, and they've been burned too many times.
In other words, it's hard to break through these days.
Which puts a further focus on the music itself. But still, if no one hears it, it doesn't matter how good it may be.
First and foremost there should be no restrictions on your music, absolutely none. Don't complain about streaming sites... Your music must be absolutely everywhere, so if someone gets a hankering, they can find it with almost no friction. You want to make it easy.
But how do you gain reach?
First and foremost you motivate your fans. Everything is bottom up instead of top down these days. Stop swinging for the fences, gain a hard core fan base and if they can't spread the word...you won't spread. One thing about the aforementioned Phish fans, they inundate my inbox, Phishheads e-mail me constantly. The problem is when most people check out Phish's music...they don't become fans. Which is fine, Phish does very well, but don't equate their success with REACH!
So how many people are really listening to Taylor Swift. Or Morgan Wallen. Or even the Weeknd.
Fewer than ever before in history. When it comes to hit acts. They might have big footprints, but their territory is defined, their reach is nowhere near as great as the consumption statistics imply, especially considering that avid Swift and Phish fans stream the music ad infinitum. One person could stream a band all day long. That's very different from a thousand people streaming a song once, that's reach.
Presently there is no chart that quantifies reach.
Advertising agencies specialize in this. Ratings companies. But we don't have that for music, all we've got is radio ratings, which mean less than ever before.
But you need to get out of the bubble and gain perspective, see the context. If you can sell out your high school auditorium, kudos. But can you sell out any other high school auditorium? But unlike in the old days, you can record cheaply and put your music online. However, there's so much online that yours won't stand out unless people pull it.
In other words, casual listens only work on social media. That's where the target audience discovers new music. How do you beat the system? No one has been able to figure this out. And even if you serve a video to many, that doesn't mean they won't skip over it.
That's the truth, that's reality, but they keep telling us the Spotify Top 50 is the be all and end all. But it's not. It's one metric, of consumption. And it is not known by the public if it's avid fans, like those of K-pop, or casual fans, i.e. many listening fewer times.
Once again, you want to be everywhere. But also you must step up to bat constantly. Put out new music, have new campaigns. Don't overthink it, just do. People don't remember the failures anymore, there are too many, get back in the game.
This is the exact opposite of the old world where an album came out every three or four years, with singles dribbled out over that interim.
If you're not a label/act, if you're on the outside, there is no metric that tells us about music reach. We don't know how big you are or not. The oldsters will cite the old metrics, but they're outdated, they're useless.
What we've got is the blind, the industry, leading those who don't care. It's a veritable circle jerk I tell you. The industry keeps trumpeting figures but we just don't know how big these acts are anymore. And there's mindshare and consumption. You may know about an act in the Spotify Top 50, but do you want to listen to it?
It was easy in the eighties. All you had to do was get your video on MTV.
But it's never been harder in the modern recording era to reach people.
And rather than admit it, we've got a whole industry denying it.
The world is gonna flip I tell you, it can't go on like this forever, a limited number of acts pushed down the throat of a public that doesn't care. All that publicity works against you. It alienates even those who might have been casually interested.
In other words, mania means little, the music means more. And more music is consumed by more people than ever before.
But how many people really?
We have no idea.
--
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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In other words, today's metrics, which are really yesterday's metrics, don't give an accurate picture of what is happening in the landscape, they don't indicate how big an act is, rather how many times one person listened to one song.
Think about that. In the pre-internet days of scarcity it was all about getting on a platform with reach. Radio was number one for music. How many people were actually listening to a radio station when your record was played? And if it was played in the middle of the night, the so-called "lunar rotation," you might be able to use that number to manipulate the chart but it didn't indicate you had any real listeners. In other words, how many people were listening to the number one station in the middle of the night?
And then there was television. Too expensive for record companies to advertise. But the Fortune 500 and more... This is how they reached the most people. Their commercials were blasted to many, how many truly cared, how many bought the product?
But commercials didn't pay dividends, i.e. direct cash. Whereas radio did and still does. Spin it and there are performing royalties paid on the song. And outside the U.S., there's a payment on the recording as well.
But today? The broad to many? That paradigm is out the window, now it's all direct to one.
Think about that... Seen any banner ads recently? Like me you probably have an ad-blocker installed on your browser. The truth is banner ads have been proven to be ineffective. In a one to one world, the one to many is easily ignored, just like people started skipping commercials on broadcast TV, whether it be via flipping the channels or recording on a VCR or a digital device.
Broadcast and basic cable TV still have ads and still reach people, but their audiences have shrunk to the point where they reach very few of the target audience. In other words, if you want to reach the under twenty age group, spending on network TV ads is like burning money, because that demo doesn't consume that way.
Ditto radio.
We live in a disinformation age. Everyone's a winner, everyone has gigantic impact, nothing dies, everything lives on, like terrestrial radio.
When you find the person under twenty five still listening to terrestrial music radio let me know, because I haven't found them yet. And I ask this demo whenever I encounter them.
Meanwhile, this is the number one way traditional record labels promote records. Think about that. I mean there is a radio business, but its reach is so insignificant as to not be a focus of the younger purveyors. They want to make it on TikTok, where the audience is.
In other words, big f*cking deal you're number one at terrestrial radio. Especially if it's in some niche format. Can you sell any tickets? Probably not, because very few people are listening to the music!
But let's not punch a hole in the balloon, the industries, both record and broadcasting, don't like it! They live in an ancient bubble, in denial, just like Biden. They cherry-pick their statistics, because the real ones are scary.
Like the Spotify Top 50. That's about consumption. Pure and simple. Whether someone listened or not. If you're a fan and are not listening, it doesn't make any difference. And, of course, it's not only Spotify, but Apple, Amazon and YouTube and...
In order to make money, people have to consume.
But that's not the only way to make money today. Even though oldsters and wannabes can't stop bitching how the game is rigged against them. I ask you, in what other world do you get paid if people don't consume?
So, we're told the Spotify Top 50 is the main metric. Yes, there's a manipulated Luminate chart, factoring in vinyl and even downloads, but unless they're boasting of some success, everybody at the record company looks to Spotify, because not only does it have the most market share, that's where active listeners are. In other words, you might get paid more per stream on Apple, but that just means fewer people are listening.
But math was rarely a musician's strong suit.
So in the old days you broadcasted widely in order to get people to buy the music. Broadcasting was the number one way most people consumed. But that's no longer the case. Most people pick and choose what they want to listen to. Spotify tells us that. And active users barely employ playlists. Playlists are today's equivalent of Muzak, background music, but since occasionally a playlisted track/act breaks out, we get all this focus on playlisting when it's worth very little.
But assuming your music is listened to...
That could be the same cadre of people streaming 24/7.
Let me put it another way. Phish plays arenas, goes on tour and sells out consistently. How big is Phish? TINY! That's not a put-down, just perspective. The band has no reach, it's got a hard core supporting them, and that's just fine, but don't let the grosses misinform you.
Having said that, you can be in the Spotify Top 50 and not be able to sell out a club. You're hot in a narrow world. That's right, the Spotify Top 50 is niche. Think about that. The number one way people consume the most music is a gnat on the ass of the music world.
But don't go too far in the other direction. With nearly a hundred categories, winning a Grammy means almost nothing either. Not even at the top of the heap, the big awards anymore. There used to a bump, sales, but that's history. The audience is too sophisticated, they already know the hits. As for those in categories way down the list... They get a Grammy even though in many cases they're lucky if a few thousand people even listened to their music. That's right, Grammys today are the equivalent of giving every kid a sports trophy. They're neither indicative of talent nor achievement.
But that's the way our whole music world has gone.
We keep being told the acts in the Spotify Top 50 are superstars. But most people, MOST PEOPLE, have never even heard these tracks. Think about that, in the old days of terrestrial radio you winced when you heard the same song you hated over and over again, but there were no options, there were very few stations that played the kind of music you liked.
But today?
You have a cornucopia of options.
But the music industry has been fighting this ever since Napster.
You can't break out the single from the album. Remember that fight? You don't go against what the people want, they didn't want the dreck that surrounded the hit.
The consumer is in control today.
And you need an audience, that consumes your music, but that does not mean you have any reach.
Another way performers used to gain reach was being the opening act for a headliner who sold a great number of tickets. This worked in the sixties, into the seventies when the opening acts were chosen to align with the music of the star, but those days are through. Now, oftentimes it's just about getting an act to play cheaply. And people don't even arrive for the opening act, they don't want anything they don't want, and they've been burned too many times.
In other words, it's hard to break through these days.
Which puts a further focus on the music itself. But still, if no one hears it, it doesn't matter how good it may be.
First and foremost there should be no restrictions on your music, absolutely none. Don't complain about streaming sites... Your music must be absolutely everywhere, so if someone gets a hankering, they can find it with almost no friction. You want to make it easy.
But how do you gain reach?
First and foremost you motivate your fans. Everything is bottom up instead of top down these days. Stop swinging for the fences, gain a hard core fan base and if they can't spread the word...you won't spread. One thing about the aforementioned Phish fans, they inundate my inbox, Phishheads e-mail me constantly. The problem is when most people check out Phish's music...they don't become fans. Which is fine, Phish does very well, but don't equate their success with REACH!
So how many people are really listening to Taylor Swift. Or Morgan Wallen. Or even the Weeknd.
Fewer than ever before in history. When it comes to hit acts. They might have big footprints, but their territory is defined, their reach is nowhere near as great as the consumption statistics imply, especially considering that avid Swift and Phish fans stream the music ad infinitum. One person could stream a band all day long. That's very different from a thousand people streaming a song once, that's reach.
Presently there is no chart that quantifies reach.
Advertising agencies specialize in this. Ratings companies. But we don't have that for music, all we've got is radio ratings, which mean less than ever before.
But you need to get out of the bubble and gain perspective, see the context. If you can sell out your high school auditorium, kudos. But can you sell out any other high school auditorium? But unlike in the old days, you can record cheaply and put your music online. However, there's so much online that yours won't stand out unless people pull it.
In other words, casual listens only work on social media. That's where the target audience discovers new music. How do you beat the system? No one has been able to figure this out. And even if you serve a video to many, that doesn't mean they won't skip over it.
That's the truth, that's reality, but they keep telling us the Spotify Top 50 is the be all and end all. But it's not. It's one metric, of consumption. And it is not known by the public if it's avid fans, like those of K-pop, or casual fans, i.e. many listening fewer times.
Once again, you want to be everywhere. But also you must step up to bat constantly. Put out new music, have new campaigns. Don't overthink it, just do. People don't remember the failures anymore, there are too many, get back in the game.
This is the exact opposite of the old world where an album came out every three or four years, with singles dribbled out over that interim.
If you're not a label/act, if you're on the outside, there is no metric that tells us about music reach. We don't know how big you are or not. The oldsters will cite the old metrics, but they're outdated, they're useless.
What we've got is the blind, the industry, leading those who don't care. It's a veritable circle jerk I tell you. The industry keeps trumpeting figures but we just don't know how big these acts are anymore. And there's mindshare and consumption. You may know about an act in the Spotify Top 50, but do you want to listen to it?
It was easy in the eighties. All you had to do was get your video on MTV.
But it's never been harder in the modern recording era to reach people.
And rather than admit it, we've got a whole industry denying it.
The world is gonna flip I tell you, it can't go on like this forever, a limited number of acts pushed down the throat of a public that doesn't care. All that publicity works against you. It alienates even those who might have been casually interested.
In other words, mania means little, the music means more. And more music is consumed by more people than ever before.
But how many people really?
We have no idea.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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