"Ready To Get Lost At Forneris Farms"?
We did!
I've been sitting in the house for too long, staring at all four walls recovering from my shoulder surgery. I'm back and at 'em now, veering from here to there, booking all comers, and when I found myself inside this morning...I STARTED TO FREAK OUT! I needed to go somewhere, but where?
Used to be I went to the movies. But that no longer makes sense. With untold hours of unwatched television on demand in the house, far superior to anything playing in the theatre. And I'm no longer twenty five, with my buds tracking me down to play on the weekend, as a matter of fact, I use the weekend as respite, I recover from the week. And everybody's kids are out of the house and you get to a certain point where you've got no idea what to do with yourself.
And that's when it hit me, I wanted to go to a corn maze!
I'd only been to one before, outside of Minneapolis. Where there was a tower in the middle in case you got lost, you could survey the landscape and find your way out, there was even an escape gate.
But not today.
Mr. Smartypants felt there would be no problem. If anything, I was worried I would go too fast, and that my fifteen bucks would be a gross overspend.
Boy, was I wrong.
So we drove to the edge of the San Fernando Valley. Where Forneris Farms had a cornucopia of Halloween attractions. Made me feel like I'd missed out. It was all about kids... Playing musical chairs with pumpkins, going on pony rides, getting their faces painted... But we were here for the corn maze.
So we paid our money and got our wristbands and the concierge gave us a map...
I don't need no stinkin' map!
And on the back side were clues. You see there were fifteen puzzles, and if you solved them you might win a hundred bucks, there would be a raffle. I didn't want the money, but I did want the completion.
And the first couple of clues were easy.
But then I noticed there was a numbering system and we'd missed a few so I implored Felice to retrace our steps.
That was the big mistake.
I didn't feel that bad at first, the woman with purple hair was confused too.
But then the sun came out and Felice started to wilt and I gave up on completing the entire puzzle but for the life of me I couldn't find the way out. Having abandoned the map from the get-go, I had no idea where we truly were. Having not wanted to cheat, I was completely lost.
And the sorority sisters are marching by. As are the families with kids in tow. They weren't stuck, what was gonna happen to us?
And while I stood there, contemplating the map, all wrong, it turned out, I asked this young Latino man if he had a clue. He did! He said we were in the "1"!
That's right, at the top of the maze "2016" was spelled out. I thought we were far below that. So I asked, could we follow him?
Each of us has his own special gift. And this guy was a tracker nonpareil. He knew exactly where we were at all times. Well, he got stumped once, but he finally brought us to the exit.
I was relieved, but they'd missed a couple of puzzles and were going back in. This twentysomething and his tattooed wife and two young children. Isaiah took a liking to Felice, held on to her shirt. Funny how you bond when you're in danger.
And as we sipped our lemonade I Yelped for lunch. I'm up for adventure. And the number one hit was Tortas Ahogadas, a Guadalajaran place only five minutes away.
The app took us there, but I was flummoxed by the menu, it was completely in Spanish! Never occurred to me this could happen mere miles away from my abode.
Then I looked around and discovered I was the outsider. All the faces were brown.
I also discovered I ordered the wrong thing. That you were supposed to get the grilled barbecue style taco. They grilled the whole thing, the tortilla too. It was kind of orange, and there were tacos on every table.
But my tostada was excellent.
But I had no idea when it would come. Felice jumped up to retrieve our food and it wasn't there.
And that's when the Latino man with stars tattooed up and down his arm leaned over and told me there was a number system, and to let him know ours, he'd notify me when our food was ready.
And I'm sitting there contemplating how the rich have contempt for each other, they're busy pushing each other out of the way to get ahead, and every Latino I encountered was going out of his way to help me out, to be nice, to include me.
You live in the city and pay fealty to the media and you come to believe everybody's a winner or a loser, that it's a rat race with no normality. And then you venture out of your comfort zone and find out this is not the case. Made me wonder, had I played my hand wrong? Maybe it's just about having a job, getting married and raising some kids, revisiting the world you once inhabited through their eyes.
Like the sandbox. I lived for it way back when. I had my special tools, back when they were made out of metal and not plastic. I can't say I wanted to jump into the pit with the munchkins at Forneris Farms, but I was envious of their happiness. If only life were that simple. Maybe it is that simple and I'm just overcomplicating it.
One thing I know for sure is my life got way too narrow. That there are experiences for the taking right around the corner, if you can slow down and stop worrying if you're on the guest list and be willing to be part of the throng, just like everybody else.
Maybe I'm a child at heart. Maybe you never have to go to a corn maze.
Maybe I've had better Mexican food.
But I had fun. And I realized you don't have to be rich to be happy. And that we're all in this together, and you'll never expect who will lend a helping hand.
http://www.fornerisfarms.com/corn-maze.html?utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
The pic is the actual maze we did today. You can see the "1" in "2016"!
https://www.yelp.com/biz/tortas-ahogadas-las-originales-san-fernando?utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
You can see the barbecue style tacos in the pic at the top of the page!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5619&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Corn+Maze
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Saturday, 29 October 2016
Friday, 28 October 2016
Friday New Release Playlist
http://spoti.fi/2dQhkqQ?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
Friday was my record shopping day.
Monday was my record returning day.
That's what people seem to forget about the vinyl revival, the imperfections. Most companies did not use 100% virgin vinyl, they employed regrind. As in when you returned records, they steamed off the labels, maybe, ground up the what remained and then made new discs out of it. Such that the new stuff was laden with pops and clicks. The worst offender was Atlantic, although they were all pretty bad. And never mind the warps. Your needle would skip, you'd get wow and flutter, and then you'd have to return the LP. Casual buyers would just keep 'em. But dedicated fans were in search of purity. If it didn't play, if it skipped, you absolutely returned it. But how much surface noise could you tolerate? And if you were a dedicated customer, addicted to the sound, you'd be returning records en masse and you'd get to the point where the store would say "no mas" and you had to find another outlet to shop at.
That's what was so great about CDs, the lack of imperfections.
But still, you could not hear it unless you bought it. You purchased the next albums by your favorites, unless the buzz was deafeningly bad. You bought the new releases with the most buzz, the ones with songs you heard on the radio, and then there was stuff that got good reviews, you'd take a chance. And if some week there was nothing to buy, you'd fill out the catalog. As years went by, stores stocked less and less of it. You had to find an indie which knew what to bring in. So you might go back and buy Neil Young's debut, an exquisite production, one of his best, or you might finger it for years, waiting to have enough money and nothing else at the top of your list.
But today, today, everything is at your fingertips.
But you don't even know it's out. Did you know there's a new Eric Clapton live album? And a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band one too? Used to be you went to the new release bin and saw what came out. But now, there's a plethora of product and the hype never reaches you and albums go unheard. But I've become addicted to Spotify's "Your Release Radar" playlist and I saw these recommendations under the Discover tab, under "New Releases For You."
So I'm gonna tell you what grabbed me this week.
"Somebody Else" - alt edit
The 1975
There was tons of buzz, but it never closed me, but this track did immediately. How did I miss it? I knew I missed it, because there's been no recent buzz, and with the hip acts I hear the hype.
Turns out this came out back in February, of 2016. And it's got 49 million plus plays on Spotify already. But that's the original studio take, which is not quite as magical.
And "magical" is the operative word. Stay until just past the half minute mark, when the song changes, when it starts to march. Funny, in the original it happens fifteen seconds later.
I could analyze deeper, but despite the band's moniker this is more akin to eighties English music. A sound that washed over you, took you away, made you feel good.
"Journeyman"
Jamestown Revival
And this sounds positively seventies, and if you were alive back then you'll hear the similarity to the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver's masterpiece "(I Don't Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway." It's not on any streaming service, but you can hear it on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2fp7Jrz?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist This is a crazy video wherein the maker shows you the actual 45 and then puts it on the record player and drops the needle, but when he does...YOU'LL GET IT! And I did immediately when I heard it driving my '63 Chevy convertible from Amherst to Middlebury in the fall of '73, this is what music used to sound like, I immediately had to buy the album, I had to have this song at my fingertips.
Anyway, this Jamestown Revival song has got the groove of "(I Don't Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway" but the sound bleeds into the darkness of the sixties, as if you were walking down a rainy street in the U.K., even though this is an American band. This is subtle, but it'll get under your skin.
"Tennessee Stud" (feat. Vince Gill)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This album flies so far under the radar it's not even referenced on Wikipedia yet, which is where we go to do our research. I've got questions, exactly when was this recorded?
I didn't buy the three LP set "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" until the late seventies, half a decade after it came out. I was aware of it, but never heard it until I was at a party in Salt Lake City and a guy who made money fishing to pay for his skiing dropped the needle on "Tennessee Stud." The original version, via the Dirt Band, featured Doc Watson, who had a different vocal style from Vince Gill, but Vince's smooth as scotch pipes add their own special quality. If you think music is for listening as opposed to selling, that it's about the sound as opposed to the commerce, check this out.
"You Ain't Going Nowhere"
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The definitive version is by the Byrds, it appeared on "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo," I'm gonna include it, you should hear it. Despite becoming a legend, "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" was a stiff upon release, rockers weren't quite ready for country and there was no hit, Gram Parsons transmogrified the Byrds but then moved on. I didn't hear this until years later when I went to visit my high school buddy at Hampshire College where it was all the rage. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" was written by Bob Dylan in the "Basement Tapes" era. It leaked out. It was a classic passed on from player to player, over time everybody knew it, even though I've never ever heard it on the radio. Unfortunately, this Dirt Band version is not definitive, but I had to check it out, I need to each and every version of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere."
"These Days" (feat. Jackson Browne)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
"Well I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking these days"
This'll make you cry, make you remember what once was, when music was everything, when it touched your soul.
The arrangement is very similar to the one on Jackson's double live LP, but this is just as good, with the original words to boot, which you have probably never heard.
Jackson was in the Dirt Band, however briefly.
But boomers recognized his genius when Gregg Allman covered this song on 1973's "Laid Back," which came out just about the same time as Jackson's second LP, with his version, it was good timing. But Tom Rush debuted the number.
This is heartbreakingly good.
"Fishin' In The Dark" (feat. Jimmy Ibbotson)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
My old fave Wendy Waldman dropped out, left SoCal for NashVegas, and ended up writing this with Jim Photoglo, the Dirt Band covered it and it went all the way to number one and I never heard it because back in '87 no rocker tuned into country, I didn't experience it until much later when I heard Wendy perform it live. The original has a bit more energy and spunk in the chorus, but the groove in the verse of this iteration sustains, it'll get you.
"An American Dream" (feat. Rodney Crowell with Alison Krauss)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I bought this album on one of those Friday afternoon excursions, I found it in the promo bin and took a risk. This is what made me a Dirt Band fan, I had no idea the track went all the way up to number 13 on the Hot 100 until I just checked it out on Wikipedia!
"Mr. Bojangles" (feat. Jerry Jeff Walker)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This will make you tingle.
The Dirt Band had the hit with this, but Jerry Jeff Walker wrote it, and he sings it here. Who even knew Jerry Jeff Walker was still alive? Our folkies have become like old bluesmen, hiding in plain sight, maybe some college kids will reach out and resuscitate their careers.
"Anyday"
"Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale)"
Eric Clapton
This is the cut that closed me on "Layla." I vividly remember hearing it in Dave McCormick's dorm room during winter term of '71, freshman year. You see during January at Middlebury you only took one course, intensively, and then you skied and got high, which is what we were doing when I first heard this.
I was a huge fan of Eric's solo debut, can you say "Easy Now" and "Let It Rain"? But I'd skipped "Layla," there was little noise, it took time to build, ultimately it became deafening.
This take has the same powerful riff, a wave at Waimea that's gonna plow you under. And then there are the dynamics, how it gets quiet and subtle.
"Tell The Truth"
"Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale)"
Eric Clapton
Oh, that pickin', and then they lay down in the groove.
"Little Wing"
"Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale)"
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix wrote it, Clapton popularized it and Sting brought it home.
I never bought "Axis: Bold As Love," I was not rich in the sixties, I stopped at "Are You Experienced," I didn't even buy "Electric Ladyland," even though at this point the Hendrix song I want to hear most is "Burning of the Midnight Lamp." Do you know it? I know I'm going off point, but I'm gonna include it...oh that riff! We used to live for the riff, we used to sing them in our heads, they kept us going!
"Just Your Fool"
The Rolling Stones"
You're gonna have to slow down for this one. Throw out your preconceptions, forget about the rat race and remember being in the basement spinning 45s, which the English lads did, they were American blues numbers, which the Yanks were no longer interested in.
The Stones haven't been able to get arrested on wax for years. But this time they decided to chuck it all and go back to their roots, to where it all began, and it's strangely affecting. By not trying to prove something, they've proved everything.
This is the sound that launched the British Invasion, it was this music filtered through the U.K. that revolutionized music. Maybe some young 'uns will hear this and be inspired to go back to what once was. When first and foremost music was about emotion, when records were hermetically sealed, cut in a faraway land that we were privileged to listen to but could never penetrate. In the grooves was a whole world we wanted to enter, we peeled back the curtain and jumped inside, you can too.
There's a wealth of music on streaming services. They're making it easier for you to discover it. Could make you a fan once again. Could make Fridays my music discovery day once again.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Friday was my record shopping day.
Monday was my record returning day.
That's what people seem to forget about the vinyl revival, the imperfections. Most companies did not use 100% virgin vinyl, they employed regrind. As in when you returned records, they steamed off the labels, maybe, ground up the what remained and then made new discs out of it. Such that the new stuff was laden with pops and clicks. The worst offender was Atlantic, although they were all pretty bad. And never mind the warps. Your needle would skip, you'd get wow and flutter, and then you'd have to return the LP. Casual buyers would just keep 'em. But dedicated fans were in search of purity. If it didn't play, if it skipped, you absolutely returned it. But how much surface noise could you tolerate? And if you were a dedicated customer, addicted to the sound, you'd be returning records en masse and you'd get to the point where the store would say "no mas" and you had to find another outlet to shop at.
That's what was so great about CDs, the lack of imperfections.
But still, you could not hear it unless you bought it. You purchased the next albums by your favorites, unless the buzz was deafeningly bad. You bought the new releases with the most buzz, the ones with songs you heard on the radio, and then there was stuff that got good reviews, you'd take a chance. And if some week there was nothing to buy, you'd fill out the catalog. As years went by, stores stocked less and less of it. You had to find an indie which knew what to bring in. So you might go back and buy Neil Young's debut, an exquisite production, one of his best, or you might finger it for years, waiting to have enough money and nothing else at the top of your list.
But today, today, everything is at your fingertips.
But you don't even know it's out. Did you know there's a new Eric Clapton live album? And a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band one too? Used to be you went to the new release bin and saw what came out. But now, there's a plethora of product and the hype never reaches you and albums go unheard. But I've become addicted to Spotify's "Your Release Radar" playlist and I saw these recommendations under the Discover tab, under "New Releases For You."
So I'm gonna tell you what grabbed me this week.
"Somebody Else" - alt edit
The 1975
There was tons of buzz, but it never closed me, but this track did immediately. How did I miss it? I knew I missed it, because there's been no recent buzz, and with the hip acts I hear the hype.
Turns out this came out back in February, of 2016. And it's got 49 million plus plays on Spotify already. But that's the original studio take, which is not quite as magical.
And "magical" is the operative word. Stay until just past the half minute mark, when the song changes, when it starts to march. Funny, in the original it happens fifteen seconds later.
I could analyze deeper, but despite the band's moniker this is more akin to eighties English music. A sound that washed over you, took you away, made you feel good.
"Journeyman"
Jamestown Revival
And this sounds positively seventies, and if you were alive back then you'll hear the similarity to the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver's masterpiece "(I Don't Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway." It's not on any streaming service, but you can hear it on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2fp7Jrz?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist This is a crazy video wherein the maker shows you the actual 45 and then puts it on the record player and drops the needle, but when he does...YOU'LL GET IT! And I did immediately when I heard it driving my '63 Chevy convertible from Amherst to Middlebury in the fall of '73, this is what music used to sound like, I immediately had to buy the album, I had to have this song at my fingertips.
Anyway, this Jamestown Revival song has got the groove of "(I Don't Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway" but the sound bleeds into the darkness of the sixties, as if you were walking down a rainy street in the U.K., even though this is an American band. This is subtle, but it'll get under your skin.
"Tennessee Stud" (feat. Vince Gill)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This album flies so far under the radar it's not even referenced on Wikipedia yet, which is where we go to do our research. I've got questions, exactly when was this recorded?
I didn't buy the three LP set "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" until the late seventies, half a decade after it came out. I was aware of it, but never heard it until I was at a party in Salt Lake City and a guy who made money fishing to pay for his skiing dropped the needle on "Tennessee Stud." The original version, via the Dirt Band, featured Doc Watson, who had a different vocal style from Vince Gill, but Vince's smooth as scotch pipes add their own special quality. If you think music is for listening as opposed to selling, that it's about the sound as opposed to the commerce, check this out.
"You Ain't Going Nowhere"
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The definitive version is by the Byrds, it appeared on "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo," I'm gonna include it, you should hear it. Despite becoming a legend, "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" was a stiff upon release, rockers weren't quite ready for country and there was no hit, Gram Parsons transmogrified the Byrds but then moved on. I didn't hear this until years later when I went to visit my high school buddy at Hampshire College where it was all the rage. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" was written by Bob Dylan in the "Basement Tapes" era. It leaked out. It was a classic passed on from player to player, over time everybody knew it, even though I've never ever heard it on the radio. Unfortunately, this Dirt Band version is not definitive, but I had to check it out, I need to each and every version of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere."
"These Days" (feat. Jackson Browne)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
"Well I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking these days"
This'll make you cry, make you remember what once was, when music was everything, when it touched your soul.
The arrangement is very similar to the one on Jackson's double live LP, but this is just as good, with the original words to boot, which you have probably never heard.
Jackson was in the Dirt Band, however briefly.
But boomers recognized his genius when Gregg Allman covered this song on 1973's "Laid Back," which came out just about the same time as Jackson's second LP, with his version, it was good timing. But Tom Rush debuted the number.
This is heartbreakingly good.
"Fishin' In The Dark" (feat. Jimmy Ibbotson)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
My old fave Wendy Waldman dropped out, left SoCal for NashVegas, and ended up writing this with Jim Photoglo, the Dirt Band covered it and it went all the way to number one and I never heard it because back in '87 no rocker tuned into country, I didn't experience it until much later when I heard Wendy perform it live. The original has a bit more energy and spunk in the chorus, but the groove in the verse of this iteration sustains, it'll get you.
"An American Dream" (feat. Rodney Crowell with Alison Krauss)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I bought this album on one of those Friday afternoon excursions, I found it in the promo bin and took a risk. This is what made me a Dirt Band fan, I had no idea the track went all the way up to number 13 on the Hot 100 until I just checked it out on Wikipedia!
"Mr. Bojangles" (feat. Jerry Jeff Walker)
"Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years (Live)"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This will make you tingle.
The Dirt Band had the hit with this, but Jerry Jeff Walker wrote it, and he sings it here. Who even knew Jerry Jeff Walker was still alive? Our folkies have become like old bluesmen, hiding in plain sight, maybe some college kids will reach out and resuscitate their careers.
"Anyday"
"Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale)"
Eric Clapton
This is the cut that closed me on "Layla." I vividly remember hearing it in Dave McCormick's dorm room during winter term of '71, freshman year. You see during January at Middlebury you only took one course, intensively, and then you skied and got high, which is what we were doing when I first heard this.
I was a huge fan of Eric's solo debut, can you say "Easy Now" and "Let It Rain"? But I'd skipped "Layla," there was little noise, it took time to build, ultimately it became deafening.
This take has the same powerful riff, a wave at Waimea that's gonna plow you under. And then there are the dynamics, how it gets quiet and subtle.
"Tell The Truth"
"Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale)"
Eric Clapton
Oh, that pickin', and then they lay down in the groove.
"Little Wing"
"Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale)"
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix wrote it, Clapton popularized it and Sting brought it home.
I never bought "Axis: Bold As Love," I was not rich in the sixties, I stopped at "Are You Experienced," I didn't even buy "Electric Ladyland," even though at this point the Hendrix song I want to hear most is "Burning of the Midnight Lamp." Do you know it? I know I'm going off point, but I'm gonna include it...oh that riff! We used to live for the riff, we used to sing them in our heads, they kept us going!
"Just Your Fool"
The Rolling Stones"
You're gonna have to slow down for this one. Throw out your preconceptions, forget about the rat race and remember being in the basement spinning 45s, which the English lads did, they were American blues numbers, which the Yanks were no longer interested in.
The Stones haven't been able to get arrested on wax for years. But this time they decided to chuck it all and go back to their roots, to where it all began, and it's strangely affecting. By not trying to prove something, they've proved everything.
This is the sound that launched the British Invasion, it was this music filtered through the U.K. that revolutionized music. Maybe some young 'uns will hear this and be inspired to go back to what once was. When first and foremost music was about emotion, when records were hermetically sealed, cut in a faraway land that we were privileged to listen to but could never penetrate. In the grooves was a whole world we wanted to enter, we peeled back the curtain and jumped inside, you can too.
There's a wealth of music on streaming services. They're making it easier for you to discover it. Could make you a fan once again. Could make Fridays my music discovery day once again.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Friday+New+Release+Playlist
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
The Death Of Vine
The Internet is about fads. Whether it be MySpace, Turntable.fm or Vine, they're hot for a while and then people move on, they're the movies of the twenty first century.
Remember when we went to the flicks to be part of the culture? So when we went to parties we'd have something to talk about? And then everyone agreed the movies sucked and stopped going and we started spending our time on Facebook. And if you still go to see the comic book flicks or the foreign cinema...kudos to you, you're keeping a dying industry on life support while the rest of us are cherry-picking streaming TV and spending time on the web.
Everything runs its course.
It's just that it's must faster online. We can all get the word, utilize it and then be done with it. The game is to sustain, which is nearly impossible. Which is why Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp. Because after you've reconnected with all your old school buddies and built a monument to yourself, why go back to the social network? As a matter of fact, youngsters never do, they populate chat apps. Which is why Apple beefed up iMessage, opened it up to apps itself. Because there's a coming war, and they want to win. And the way you win today is to build up enough capital and mindshare that you can purchase the latest and the greatest, can you say Oculus Rift? Facebook bought that too. As for Snap, er, chat... An overvalued turkey that does not have the cojones and mindshare to justify its valuation. It's GoPro without the hardware.
That's right, after all the active athletes buy a GoPro who's left? The company is trying to pivot but will probably fail. It's just not a mainstream product.
Nor is Snapchat. Evanescent messaging...that's a feature, not a standalone item. Just ask Twitter... Real time news is a feature, not a standalone item, which is why they're trying to sell the enterprise. As for Snapchat's vaunted entertainment options...you can view content on any platform, it doesn't have to be on Snapchat. But the media loves the story and the investors have to cash out and it keeps the dough rolling in Silicon Valley but do we really have room for one more horseman? After all, there were only four at the apocalypse.
Apps, which kids rarely download today, are the one hit wonders of now. You use 'em and discard them. They're Pokemon Go. They don't have a run as long as the Backstreet Boys. Why do we think virtual is forever when it can so easily be eclipsed? Want to last? Build hardware, but that takes forever, with a huge investment. Which is why we revere Elon Musk, who added the Mars dream on top of that...but can he beat the usual suspects with deep pockets? Can anybody beat the usual suspects with deep pockets?
That's the story of today. The consolidation of power in so very few. Not only in the public, but in our corporations. The rich get richer and don't want the poor to rise up. If you've got something worth buying the empowered will purchase it, otherwise it's just a matter of when it dies on the vine...
Short media clips. A brief mania. Kinda like the Flip mini camcorder. A huge breakthrough from the bulky video cameras of the past, but just a feature once the smartphone appeared.
The game is to last.
But it's harder than ever today. Hell, it's hard to even get noticed. Remember when there used to be a viral sensation every couple of months? Remember "Gangnam Style"? Now we don't even have that, because people have seen the trick and the pros got in with their marketing and the whole thing became phony and what sells, what delivers mania, what shoots up like a unicorn, is inventive authenticity. You've got to be different, and you've got to be honest. And we've got a duplicitous me-too culture. Everybody with a brain is playing it safe. The proletariat wants to buy, but enterprises are risk averse. Imagine if Facebook came up with evanescent messaging. Imagine if Universal signed an act with no radio potential that blew minds. But bean counters won't allow it. Which is why disruption comes from outside. But now the powers-that-be are so powerful it's hard to get traction, which leads to public frustration.
We're just on an accelerated path. We're chewing up and spitting out ever faster. That's what digitization has allowed. The newspapers are on life support, they still need a rethink. And if you believe you're gonna own a car in the future, you're still watching television in real time, you're unaware of the on demand culture.
Meanwhile, the public is on overload. Which is why experiences have become so big. They're one of a kind and they're flesh and blood. They make you feel alive. Whereas sites like Vine are bits and bytes, cold assemblages we can easily discard. It's the people who remain, not their tools.
But we like the tools to make our lives better.
That's what Steve Jobs had right, he was building tools. Now those developing online take their cues from the entertainment industry, where it's all about flash and personal glory, whereas online it's the public that's the star.
Expect fewer unicorns. I'm not sure whether Silicon Valley has run out of ideas or we're just burned out on the trick but the era of internet excitement has run its course. The internet is a distribution platform, a place to host endeavors. Your goal is to put your imprimatur upon it. To create something that people want to interact with. We're living in the era of the content creator. The stars are those who touch souls. But too many are bunting. Utilize the tools to deliver something that blows minds. There will will always be a platform to exhibit it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Remember when we went to the flicks to be part of the culture? So when we went to parties we'd have something to talk about? And then everyone agreed the movies sucked and stopped going and we started spending our time on Facebook. And if you still go to see the comic book flicks or the foreign cinema...kudos to you, you're keeping a dying industry on life support while the rest of us are cherry-picking streaming TV and spending time on the web.
Everything runs its course.
It's just that it's must faster online. We can all get the word, utilize it and then be done with it. The game is to sustain, which is nearly impossible. Which is why Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp. Because after you've reconnected with all your old school buddies and built a monument to yourself, why go back to the social network? As a matter of fact, youngsters never do, they populate chat apps. Which is why Apple beefed up iMessage, opened it up to apps itself. Because there's a coming war, and they want to win. And the way you win today is to build up enough capital and mindshare that you can purchase the latest and the greatest, can you say Oculus Rift? Facebook bought that too. As for Snap, er, chat... An overvalued turkey that does not have the cojones and mindshare to justify its valuation. It's GoPro without the hardware.
That's right, after all the active athletes buy a GoPro who's left? The company is trying to pivot but will probably fail. It's just not a mainstream product.
Nor is Snapchat. Evanescent messaging...that's a feature, not a standalone item. Just ask Twitter... Real time news is a feature, not a standalone item, which is why they're trying to sell the enterprise. As for Snapchat's vaunted entertainment options...you can view content on any platform, it doesn't have to be on Snapchat. But the media loves the story and the investors have to cash out and it keeps the dough rolling in Silicon Valley but do we really have room for one more horseman? After all, there were only four at the apocalypse.
Apps, which kids rarely download today, are the one hit wonders of now. You use 'em and discard them. They're Pokemon Go. They don't have a run as long as the Backstreet Boys. Why do we think virtual is forever when it can so easily be eclipsed? Want to last? Build hardware, but that takes forever, with a huge investment. Which is why we revere Elon Musk, who added the Mars dream on top of that...but can he beat the usual suspects with deep pockets? Can anybody beat the usual suspects with deep pockets?
That's the story of today. The consolidation of power in so very few. Not only in the public, but in our corporations. The rich get richer and don't want the poor to rise up. If you've got something worth buying the empowered will purchase it, otherwise it's just a matter of when it dies on the vine...
Short media clips. A brief mania. Kinda like the Flip mini camcorder. A huge breakthrough from the bulky video cameras of the past, but just a feature once the smartphone appeared.
The game is to last.
But it's harder than ever today. Hell, it's hard to even get noticed. Remember when there used to be a viral sensation every couple of months? Remember "Gangnam Style"? Now we don't even have that, because people have seen the trick and the pros got in with their marketing and the whole thing became phony and what sells, what delivers mania, what shoots up like a unicorn, is inventive authenticity. You've got to be different, and you've got to be honest. And we've got a duplicitous me-too culture. Everybody with a brain is playing it safe. The proletariat wants to buy, but enterprises are risk averse. Imagine if Facebook came up with evanescent messaging. Imagine if Universal signed an act with no radio potential that blew minds. But bean counters won't allow it. Which is why disruption comes from outside. But now the powers-that-be are so powerful it's hard to get traction, which leads to public frustration.
We're just on an accelerated path. We're chewing up and spitting out ever faster. That's what digitization has allowed. The newspapers are on life support, they still need a rethink. And if you believe you're gonna own a car in the future, you're still watching television in real time, you're unaware of the on demand culture.
Meanwhile, the public is on overload. Which is why experiences have become so big. They're one of a kind and they're flesh and blood. They make you feel alive. Whereas sites like Vine are bits and bytes, cold assemblages we can easily discard. It's the people who remain, not their tools.
But we like the tools to make our lives better.
That's what Steve Jobs had right, he was building tools. Now those developing online take their cues from the entertainment industry, where it's all about flash and personal glory, whereas online it's the public that's the star.
Expect fewer unicorns. I'm not sure whether Silicon Valley has run out of ideas or we're just burned out on the trick but the era of internet excitement has run its course. The internet is a distribution platform, a place to host endeavors. Your goal is to put your imprimatur upon it. To create something that people want to interact with. We're living in the era of the content creator. The stars are those who touch souls. But too many are bunting. Utilize the tools to deliver something that blows minds. There will will always be a platform to exhibit it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5617&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+Death+Of+Vine
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Thursday, 27 October 2016
The NFL Crashes
I don't buy it. The story that the Presidential election is hurting NFL ratings. After all, the "Walking Dead" won Sunday night. Turns out zombies trump overdeveloped men when they go head to head.
This has been a long time coming.
That's the story of the twenty first century, the decimation of old paradigms. What once was, no longer will be. In an era of experiences, where everyone wants to participate, be up close and personal, football is a bad fit. You can't get a good seat and even if you do the game is better at home. A game that those who play it say the public can't truly understand. One with very little action where so many men get hurt that nobody wants their kids to play anymore. This is a recipe for success?
But we kept hearing that live television was everything, sports ruled and football was king.
Until cord-cutting began... I don't remember the last time I tuned in ESPN, and I'm paying five plus bucks a month for it. Talk about a rip-off!
And then there's the dilution of the product. In this case, I don't mean bad games without stars, but the proliferation of game days. Used to be NFL Sunday. Now it's NFL Thursday, Sunday and Monday. It's no longer special.
And the brass is out of touch.
How do you think it looks when your players keep beating up their spouses?
It reinforces the notion that the game is played by thugs. This is not college rah-rah character building, this is about money pure and simple. Otherwise, why would these men put themselves in the line of fire?
And we've been complicit. As our best stars get hurt. As our most famous stars can barely walk and literally lose their minds. Try having a rave in Southern California, can't be done, too many people have died, the public won't stand for it. And the public won't stand for a sport that is literally killing its players' futures.
But you can't say this. Because football is religion. It's the national glue.
But nothing bonds us all together other than politics and tech. Movies are niche, TV too. As for music...the biggest stars are known by few.
We live in a Tower of Babel society. No entertainment is immune. What does this mean?
Well, you either hunker down in your niche and be happy or you re-evaluate.
The music business sells niche and expects it to go mainstream, which is utterly hysterical. A great swath of the public will never listen to hip-hop. And a good chunk tunes out today's pop. But they keep tuning into the vapid "Voice" despite the show never minting a star. Because there are songs. We're enamored of songs. Where have all the good songs gone?
It's hard to like Roger Goodell. He's another robber baron, a corporate titan overpaid to care for the interests of billionaire owners out of touch with the proletariat. If you don't think people have contempt for these so-called winners, you followed neither the Sanders nor the Trump campaigns. That's the story of this decade, how income inequality has bit back, how the disenfranchised are angry and are exacting payment whenever they can.
We don't need your stinking football games.
Not when we've got Pokemon Go! Not when we can be the star of our own world on Facebook and Snapchat!
Maybe there will be a bump in the ratings when the election is over and the championship races tighten up. But rest assured, football is in trouble. And it's going to continue to falter. Like boxing, it can't be fixed. And how do you expect a younger generation to pay attention when they're all playing soccer?
That's the sports story here, how European football, the world's game, has gained strength. Because kids played it in school, because it's based on finesse more than violence and...
Nothing lasts forever.
Kinda like the network hegemony.
A bunch of outlets are gonna fall by the wayside. Propped up by a cable bundle that is going extinct, the truth is few people are watching them.
But plenty of people are tuning in, watching higher quality television than ever before. Which outlets gladly pay for. Funny how quality has become the mantra. The executive is not the king in television, it's the talent.
But do we revere football players anymore?
I don't think so. They've all got such checkered pasts. And most are two-dimensional. Put them in front of a mic and all they can say is "I love my teammates, we won!"
Not very endearing.
It's not the football players who dominate social media, but...
Enough already with the jockocracy. Rich athletes pumped up by fat television contracts. We've passed peak football. You lived through it.
They stopped killing people at the Roman Colosseum. And if you're floating a bond to pay for a football stadium, stop. You're better off investing in e-sports.
We used to believe cocaine wasn't addictive, OxyContin too.
We used to believe football players had long productive lives.
But they don't.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
It's morning in America and football is toast.
GOOD RIDDANCE!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
This has been a long time coming.
That's the story of the twenty first century, the decimation of old paradigms. What once was, no longer will be. In an era of experiences, where everyone wants to participate, be up close and personal, football is a bad fit. You can't get a good seat and even if you do the game is better at home. A game that those who play it say the public can't truly understand. One with very little action where so many men get hurt that nobody wants their kids to play anymore. This is a recipe for success?
But we kept hearing that live television was everything, sports ruled and football was king.
Until cord-cutting began... I don't remember the last time I tuned in ESPN, and I'm paying five plus bucks a month for it. Talk about a rip-off!
And then there's the dilution of the product. In this case, I don't mean bad games without stars, but the proliferation of game days. Used to be NFL Sunday. Now it's NFL Thursday, Sunday and Monday. It's no longer special.
And the brass is out of touch.
How do you think it looks when your players keep beating up their spouses?
It reinforces the notion that the game is played by thugs. This is not college rah-rah character building, this is about money pure and simple. Otherwise, why would these men put themselves in the line of fire?
And we've been complicit. As our best stars get hurt. As our most famous stars can barely walk and literally lose their minds. Try having a rave in Southern California, can't be done, too many people have died, the public won't stand for it. And the public won't stand for a sport that is literally killing its players' futures.
But you can't say this. Because football is religion. It's the national glue.
But nothing bonds us all together other than politics and tech. Movies are niche, TV too. As for music...the biggest stars are known by few.
We live in a Tower of Babel society. No entertainment is immune. What does this mean?
Well, you either hunker down in your niche and be happy or you re-evaluate.
The music business sells niche and expects it to go mainstream, which is utterly hysterical. A great swath of the public will never listen to hip-hop. And a good chunk tunes out today's pop. But they keep tuning into the vapid "Voice" despite the show never minting a star. Because there are songs. We're enamored of songs. Where have all the good songs gone?
It's hard to like Roger Goodell. He's another robber baron, a corporate titan overpaid to care for the interests of billionaire owners out of touch with the proletariat. If you don't think people have contempt for these so-called winners, you followed neither the Sanders nor the Trump campaigns. That's the story of this decade, how income inequality has bit back, how the disenfranchised are angry and are exacting payment whenever they can.
We don't need your stinking football games.
Not when we've got Pokemon Go! Not when we can be the star of our own world on Facebook and Snapchat!
Maybe there will be a bump in the ratings when the election is over and the championship races tighten up. But rest assured, football is in trouble. And it's going to continue to falter. Like boxing, it can't be fixed. And how do you expect a younger generation to pay attention when they're all playing soccer?
That's the sports story here, how European football, the world's game, has gained strength. Because kids played it in school, because it's based on finesse more than violence and...
Nothing lasts forever.
Kinda like the network hegemony.
A bunch of outlets are gonna fall by the wayside. Propped up by a cable bundle that is going extinct, the truth is few people are watching them.
But plenty of people are tuning in, watching higher quality television than ever before. Which outlets gladly pay for. Funny how quality has become the mantra. The executive is not the king in television, it's the talent.
But do we revere football players anymore?
I don't think so. They've all got such checkered pasts. And most are two-dimensional. Put them in front of a mic and all they can say is "I love my teammates, we won!"
Not very endearing.
It's not the football players who dominate social media, but...
Enough already with the jockocracy. Rich athletes pumped up by fat television contracts. We've passed peak football. You lived through it.
They stopped killing people at the Roman Colosseum. And if you're floating a bond to pay for a football stadium, stop. You're better off investing in e-sports.
We used to believe cocaine wasn't addictive, OxyContin too.
We used to believe football players had long productive lives.
But they don't.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
It's morning in America and football is toast.
GOOD RIDDANCE!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5616&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=The+NFL+Crashes
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Matt Nathanson Shook Me All Night Long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hzaPRa76yQ&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
It's all about the riff.
I bought "Back In Black" after hearing "You Shook Me All Night Long" on the radio. I knew "Highway To Hell," "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)," but I'd never bought an LP. I knew Bon Scott had died, that they'd replaced him with this godforsaken guy with a similar voice from the unheralded Geordie...
But I was not prepared for this mellifluous sound, as if the Beach Boys had been crossed with heavy metal, via Australia and South Africa. That's right, the band was from Down Under. And Mutt Lange emigrated to the U.K. from the land of apartheid.
And I knew who Lange was too. He produced those Graham Parker LPs, and the City Boy ones I bought even though they did not live up to the reviews.
And at this point, AC/DC was the Black Sabbath of its day, hated on principle.
But that was all about to change.
I dropped the needle on the album and...
I heard those ringing bells, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame was inside my speakers, a harbinger of something...
Heavy.
Immediately hypnotic, Angus's playing entranced you, the drums started to pound, the freight train was hurtling down the track and then the new vocalist, Brian Johnson, started to sing...
"I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain
I'm comin' on like a hurricane"
Some cuts you only have to hear once, you get on board and when they're done playing you're deposited at a different location.
I was ensconced in my new house in Santa Monica after breaking up with my live-in girlfriend, I went to the store and bought eight albums to break in my new abode, smooth the transition, but the one that squeezed out all the old thoughts, that made me think things would be all right, was...
"Back In Black."
And at this time, I was still drinking. It wasn't long before John Lennon would be assassinated and I'd be pulled over for having too many drinks and I loved "Have A Drink On Me."
"Whiskey, gin and brandy
With a glass I'm pretty handy"
Call me if you want to have five or six, maybe ten, one or two didn't interest me, I wanted to have the best night of my life. Flaming Drambuies, Tequila Sunrises, Jack Daniel's and Dewars, made no difference, I'd drink it all, marijuana was passe, the law had changed and you could legally drink at eighteen and I did. I remember living in Utah and waking up to see if my car was in one piece, after driving the mountain road down from the Tram Bar at Snowbird.
Those were fun times, but when that woman sexually abused me and I couldn't leave because I was on summary probation, I gave up. Forever, even though I didn't know that then.
And it's amazing how "You Shook Me All Night Long" segues into "Have A Drink On Me," you could play "Back In Black" from front to back, as you could the Def Leppard albums that followed, created by the same Mutt Lange.
But AC/DC could never equal their masterpiece. I ran out and purchased "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" the day of its release. You anticipated the greatness, you had to drop the needle and hear it right away when there was no other way. And I loved the title track, but after that... Kind of like Bon Jovi's "New Jersey" after "Slippery When Wet."
But "Back In Black"...
It's become a cultural institution. The band went from dangerous to warm and cuddly. It's been blown to bits recently but the funny thing is we now own these songs, we pay fealty to Angus, but we don't care who sings them because they're ours.
So I write about a Matt Nathanson song today and my inbox starts to fill up. I'm gonna give you a tip on music recommendations, it's not whether you like it but whether I will. Deejays wouldn't survive if no one liked what they played, it's a skill. And most of what's forwarded to me doesn't float my boat, but today...
This guy Brad Parmerter sends me a clip of Matt Nathanson he says has 1.6 million views on YouTube.
This I'm interested in. I'm a data nerd. Most live clips are in the single digit thousands, double at most. If you break seven figures, there must be something there.
And Matt's wearing his own t-shirt. Which is kind of ironic, he's a jokester, hyping your own self is the lowest form of publicity. And he's talking to the crowd, and I'm just waiting to hear...how close to the original he gets it, because people rarely do.
But the sound emanating from his guitar...IT'S THE RIFF!
And the drummer's on the beat and when they get to the verse...
THE AUDIENCE STARTS TO SING!
THEY KNOW EVERY WORD!
"The walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it"
We've got a Presidential candidate who hasn't heard of Aleppo.
People think the President is a Muslim.
But we all know every word to "You Shook Me All Night Long," it bonds us.
This is not a metal show. You wouldn't expect these people to know this song. BUT EVERYBODY DOES!
Matt never gets to sing, they carry the whole number.
WHEW!
Memories are made of this, this is why you go to the show, to feel this good at a one of a kind event. It made me tingle, gave me goosebumps, made life worth living for.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
It's all about the riff.
I bought "Back In Black" after hearing "You Shook Me All Night Long" on the radio. I knew "Highway To Hell," "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)," but I'd never bought an LP. I knew Bon Scott had died, that they'd replaced him with this godforsaken guy with a similar voice from the unheralded Geordie...
But I was not prepared for this mellifluous sound, as if the Beach Boys had been crossed with heavy metal, via Australia and South Africa. That's right, the band was from Down Under. And Mutt Lange emigrated to the U.K. from the land of apartheid.
And I knew who Lange was too. He produced those Graham Parker LPs, and the City Boy ones I bought even though they did not live up to the reviews.
And at this point, AC/DC was the Black Sabbath of its day, hated on principle.
But that was all about to change.
I dropped the needle on the album and...
I heard those ringing bells, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame was inside my speakers, a harbinger of something...
Heavy.
Immediately hypnotic, Angus's playing entranced you, the drums started to pound, the freight train was hurtling down the track and then the new vocalist, Brian Johnson, started to sing...
"I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain
I'm comin' on like a hurricane"
Some cuts you only have to hear once, you get on board and when they're done playing you're deposited at a different location.
I was ensconced in my new house in Santa Monica after breaking up with my live-in girlfriend, I went to the store and bought eight albums to break in my new abode, smooth the transition, but the one that squeezed out all the old thoughts, that made me think things would be all right, was...
"Back In Black."
And at this time, I was still drinking. It wasn't long before John Lennon would be assassinated and I'd be pulled over for having too many drinks and I loved "Have A Drink On Me."
"Whiskey, gin and brandy
With a glass I'm pretty handy"
Call me if you want to have five or six, maybe ten, one or two didn't interest me, I wanted to have the best night of my life. Flaming Drambuies, Tequila Sunrises, Jack Daniel's and Dewars, made no difference, I'd drink it all, marijuana was passe, the law had changed and you could legally drink at eighteen and I did. I remember living in Utah and waking up to see if my car was in one piece, after driving the mountain road down from the Tram Bar at Snowbird.
Those were fun times, but when that woman sexually abused me and I couldn't leave because I was on summary probation, I gave up. Forever, even though I didn't know that then.
And it's amazing how "You Shook Me All Night Long" segues into "Have A Drink On Me," you could play "Back In Black" from front to back, as you could the Def Leppard albums that followed, created by the same Mutt Lange.
But AC/DC could never equal their masterpiece. I ran out and purchased "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" the day of its release. You anticipated the greatness, you had to drop the needle and hear it right away when there was no other way. And I loved the title track, but after that... Kind of like Bon Jovi's "New Jersey" after "Slippery When Wet."
But "Back In Black"...
It's become a cultural institution. The band went from dangerous to warm and cuddly. It's been blown to bits recently but the funny thing is we now own these songs, we pay fealty to Angus, but we don't care who sings them because they're ours.
So I write about a Matt Nathanson song today and my inbox starts to fill up. I'm gonna give you a tip on music recommendations, it's not whether you like it but whether I will. Deejays wouldn't survive if no one liked what they played, it's a skill. And most of what's forwarded to me doesn't float my boat, but today...
This guy Brad Parmerter sends me a clip of Matt Nathanson he says has 1.6 million views on YouTube.
This I'm interested in. I'm a data nerd. Most live clips are in the single digit thousands, double at most. If you break seven figures, there must be something there.
And Matt's wearing his own t-shirt. Which is kind of ironic, he's a jokester, hyping your own self is the lowest form of publicity. And he's talking to the crowd, and I'm just waiting to hear...how close to the original he gets it, because people rarely do.
But the sound emanating from his guitar...IT'S THE RIFF!
And the drummer's on the beat and when they get to the verse...
THE AUDIENCE STARTS TO SING!
THEY KNOW EVERY WORD!
"The walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it"
We've got a Presidential candidate who hasn't heard of Aleppo.
People think the President is a Muslim.
But we all know every word to "You Shook Me All Night Long," it bonds us.
This is not a metal show. You wouldn't expect these people to know this song. BUT EVERYBODY DOES!
Matt never gets to sing, they carry the whole number.
WHEW!
Memories are made of this, this is why you go to the show, to feel this good at a one of a kind event. It made me tingle, gave me goosebumps, made life worth living for.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5615&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Matt+Nathanson+Shook+Me+All+Night+Long
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Benjy's Late
Nobody plans to fail.
But they fail to plan.
That's what the dental hygienist told me today. After telling me she moved to a new duplex in South Central L.A., an hour away. One day she decided to take the freeway, despite Waze's incantations, but then it took an hour and a half. But she was still fifteen minutes early, she doesn't want to be late.
On the drive into Beverly Hills Howard was chastising Benjy for being late, again. Told him he could lose this paying job and end up nowhere, like so many Stern alumni.
And this got me thinking, that half of the job is just showing up.
Forget the entrepreneurs, they're a separate breed. But if you get there on time and do the assigned job you'll climb the ranks, because so few others do!
Kinda like Daniel Glass telling me he only hires college graduates, not because you learn anything special in school, but because it shows you can complete something.
And this hygienist was a fountain of wisdom. She got married to a fifty year old and he had no retirement plan.
I have no retirement plan. I put some money in the bank, but not enough to get me to the end. And that's where you want to go, the end.
She's buying property, she's learning along the way. It makes me wonder, what are my values, am I just a dreamer?
Last night I went to this "Influencers Dinner." Utterly fascinating. Eight youngsters all on the make. People my age? They're either running the business or they're out. And it's fascinating to hang with those in charge, who have power, but one forgets they're making new people every day and that there are others who grew up with a passion for music.
One is starting a management company, Faction. It's based on data and shared services.
You pay cost for an office and then you cough up 20-30% of your earnings, but you get shared services, social media experts, publicity, they're built-in, available in the office, equity, and you get to use the app.
The app blew my mind.
Most of these things are half-baked. This one...
There was a whole approval system, a timeline, to make sure everybody had seen and signed off on something.
And you could allow people to talk to each other or not, you could end the conversation so you could move on with your project, or...
Andy Gould is in. Marc Friedenberg too. In six months they've exceeded expectations. There is still disruption to be had in the music business.
But I stressed it's still run by duplicitous renegades, who march to the beat of their own drummer.
The majordomo said he was doing it for the artists, to claw back a bunch of the revenue leaking to others. Good mission, but artists tend to be ungrateful, it's in their DNA. You've got to be screwed up to make it, and it's your only chance, so...you make decisions others won't and whine about it.
The organizer of the dinner started a publishing and record company. He used to work at Kobalt, now he's on his own. He's got a website where you suggest acts, the suggester gets a percentage of future revenue. This guy has signed four acts already. Spotify took a liking to one and in a matter of months its track has gotten 1.7 million streams and the majors are nibbling.
But the game is getting harder.
And it's more sophisticated.
Tech is integrated into music. Which is why education will pay dividends in the future. The old gofer becomes President paradigm? Guy from the street makes it to the top? That's probably going by the wayside, all the winners have skills and are much more intelligent.
And on the way home from the dentist, where I thought I had a broken tooth, having eaten two bowls of those hot nuts they serve you on American Airlines...
I heard Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher." Howard was in commercial so I pushed the button for No Shoes Radio and after a John Mayer song, this came on.
I'd never heard it before, but I just checked on Spotify and it has 34,511,335 streams. Turns out I'm the last one to get the message. But I immediately knew I liked it, because music is first and foremost emotional, when it comes from the gut it resonates. And I wondered if it was the situation, driving on Olympic towards the beach after dodging a dental bullet. But I'm listening right now and it still sounds good.
Life is an adventure. Your job is to leave the house every day. Interact. You'll learn lessons where you least expect to. Every person has wisdom, some are trying to get ahead, some are falling behind and...
I want to hear all of their stories.
"Come On Get Higher": http://spoti.fi/2eGwLBD?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
http://bit.ly/1xUa8KO?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
P.S. Faction is run by Robb McDaniels, who started INgrooves. Benjamin Groff is the guy who used to work at Kobalt...
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
But they fail to plan.
That's what the dental hygienist told me today. After telling me she moved to a new duplex in South Central L.A., an hour away. One day she decided to take the freeway, despite Waze's incantations, but then it took an hour and a half. But she was still fifteen minutes early, she doesn't want to be late.
On the drive into Beverly Hills Howard was chastising Benjy for being late, again. Told him he could lose this paying job and end up nowhere, like so many Stern alumni.
And this got me thinking, that half of the job is just showing up.
Forget the entrepreneurs, they're a separate breed. But if you get there on time and do the assigned job you'll climb the ranks, because so few others do!
Kinda like Daniel Glass telling me he only hires college graduates, not because you learn anything special in school, but because it shows you can complete something.
And this hygienist was a fountain of wisdom. She got married to a fifty year old and he had no retirement plan.
I have no retirement plan. I put some money in the bank, but not enough to get me to the end. And that's where you want to go, the end.
She's buying property, she's learning along the way. It makes me wonder, what are my values, am I just a dreamer?
Last night I went to this "Influencers Dinner." Utterly fascinating. Eight youngsters all on the make. People my age? They're either running the business or they're out. And it's fascinating to hang with those in charge, who have power, but one forgets they're making new people every day and that there are others who grew up with a passion for music.
One is starting a management company, Faction. It's based on data and shared services.
You pay cost for an office and then you cough up 20-30% of your earnings, but you get shared services, social media experts, publicity, they're built-in, available in the office, equity, and you get to use the app.
The app blew my mind.
Most of these things are half-baked. This one...
There was a whole approval system, a timeline, to make sure everybody had seen and signed off on something.
And you could allow people to talk to each other or not, you could end the conversation so you could move on with your project, or...
Andy Gould is in. Marc Friedenberg too. In six months they've exceeded expectations. There is still disruption to be had in the music business.
But I stressed it's still run by duplicitous renegades, who march to the beat of their own drummer.
The majordomo said he was doing it for the artists, to claw back a bunch of the revenue leaking to others. Good mission, but artists tend to be ungrateful, it's in their DNA. You've got to be screwed up to make it, and it's your only chance, so...you make decisions others won't and whine about it.
The organizer of the dinner started a publishing and record company. He used to work at Kobalt, now he's on his own. He's got a website where you suggest acts, the suggester gets a percentage of future revenue. This guy has signed four acts already. Spotify took a liking to one and in a matter of months its track has gotten 1.7 million streams and the majors are nibbling.
But the game is getting harder.
And it's more sophisticated.
Tech is integrated into music. Which is why education will pay dividends in the future. The old gofer becomes President paradigm? Guy from the street makes it to the top? That's probably going by the wayside, all the winners have skills and are much more intelligent.
And on the way home from the dentist, where I thought I had a broken tooth, having eaten two bowls of those hot nuts they serve you on American Airlines...
I heard Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher." Howard was in commercial so I pushed the button for No Shoes Radio and after a John Mayer song, this came on.
I'd never heard it before, but I just checked on Spotify and it has 34,511,335 streams. Turns out I'm the last one to get the message. But I immediately knew I liked it, because music is first and foremost emotional, when it comes from the gut it resonates. And I wondered if it was the situation, driving on Olympic towards the beach after dodging a dental bullet. But I'm listening right now and it still sounds good.
Life is an adventure. Your job is to leave the house every day. Interact. You'll learn lessons where you least expect to. Every person has wisdom, some are trying to get ahead, some are falling behind and...
I want to hear all of their stories.
"Come On Get Higher": http://spoti.fi/2eGwLBD?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
http://bit.ly/1xUa8KO?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
P.S. Faction is run by Robb McDaniels, who started INgrooves. Benjamin Groff is the guy who used to work at Kobalt...
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5614&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Benjy%27s+Late
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Country Primer
http://spoti.fi/2dGHrvv?utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
For all of you classic rockers who can't fathom the pop sound.
For all of you who wonder where the rock went.
For all of you who think country is redneck music, either totally right wing or too twangy...
This is for you.
I was once like you, and then I discovered...
"Stupid Boy"
Keith Urban
This is the breakthrough track. For me personally.
I realized I had a misimpression of country one day stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard when I decided to check out each and every Sirius station and ultimately heard Tim McGraw and realized he was good, but...
This is the track that made me believe I was truly missing out, and there was a whole new world that understood me, where I could be happy.
I know, I know, you're not supposed to begin with a ballad, you're supposed to hit 'em with the Hein, but the reason I'm starting here is...
The guitar solo.
It starts at 4:04, be sure to stay through there. You'll think it's the seventies, lying on the floor in the dark, sitting on the porch watching the world go by, when the ability to play was everything and we lived for the mellifluous sound, when it didn't have to be a hit to be your favorite.
"Bones"
Little Big Town
The band has changed sounds, it no longer works with Wayne Kirkpatrick.
This sounds like "Rumours," without being a remake. Little Big Town's "The Road To Here" is a gem, one of the best LPs of the first decade of the century, if you like this you'll like all of it.
"Before She Does"
Eric Church
If you think country doesn't rock...
Eric Church's "Caught In The Act: Live" sounds straight out of the seventies, and I'm emphasizing SOUND! It's in your face, if you like your music heavy, if you like it to squeeze out the rest of the noise in your head, this is for you.
As for the reference to Jesus...
Listen to the lyric completely, don't turn it off because they refer to the Lord.
It's:
"An' I believe that Jesus is comin' back
Before she does"
And that's just FUNNY!
Remember sense of humor, it was key in the old days, but it's been eviscerated from music today.
Now this only sounds good if you CRANK IT! If you've still got a big rig, if you've still got your JBL L100's... GO FOR IT!
"Gunpowder & Lead"
Miranda Lambert
She's become tabloid fodder, but her fame is deserved.
This is her breakthrough track, in it she's every bit as soulful and infectious as all the female singers of the seventies. She's Linda Ronstadt cutting even more loose. She sounds nothing like Ann Wilson, but they're sisters from another mother.
The way the verse draws you in and then the chorus seals the deal... Makes you want to jump up and stomp your feet.
"Nobody To Blame"
Chris Stapleton
A cross between Pure Prairie League and Gram Parsons with a dose of Charlie Daniels thrown in.
This guy deserves the accolades, he's the real deal, he'll make you a believer, not only in him, but the present and future of music.
Funny, in a world where everybody's boasting it's refreshing to hear someone take responsibility, to say they're less than.
"Drink A Beer"
Luke Bryan
Our bands did not only rock, they got sensitive too. One of the most poignant tracks CSN and sometimes Y ever cut was Stephen Stills' "4+20."
This is not the same sentiment, but...
We want our music to set us adrift. Life is complicated, music is the grease that allows us to move forward.
This is the cut that closed me on Luke. Could be by anybody, it's that good, a deserved #1.
"Back Where I Come From"
Kenny Chesney
Listen to the audience sing along, that's where this trend started, in country.
Kenny Chesney's 2006 live album is the twenty first century Jimmy Buffett LP you wanted that does not exist.
Written by Jimmy's sidekick Mac McAnally, "Back Where I Come From" will relax your muscles and make you feel good about yourself.
"I'm an old Tennessean
And I'm proud as anyone
That's where I come from"
Makes you want to go to Nashville and Memphis and Chattanooga to soak up the roots of these songs.
"If I Die Young"
The Band Perry
If you dig Stevie and Christine and want them melded together in one meaningful cut...
This is for you.
"Still Feels Good"
Rascals Flatts
What a TEAR!
Come on, you like picking, you like energy, if this doesn't hook you you're already dead.
"Stay A Little Longer"
Brothers Osborne
Speaking of wailing.
This just makes you want to take a road trip, one of the kind before mobile phones, when it was just you and the radio with the top down, hand banging on the outside of the door to the music.
This ain't that far from the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.
But stay for the solo, you'll be blown away, this ain't no "Deliverance," these guys all have Gibsons and unlike the pop prima donnas they practiced!
When the song changes around 2:45, hang on for the ride, it's kind of like the break in "Hotel California," it starts somewhere and then it takes you to a place you had no idea existed.
"She's Got A Way With Words"
Blake Shelton
He walked by me at the Hollywood Bowl and I was struck by...how tall and what a hunk he was.
And now I'm stretching you a bit. But think back to the days of yore, when you stopped at a roadhouse or diner out in the boonies and there was a jukebox filled with country tunes and there was always one with a turn of the phrase that cracked you up, that entranced you.
"Round Here"
Florida Georgia Line
Did you go to college? Did you drink beer? Did you live for Friday nights when you took it to the limit?
Then this song is for you.
FGL nails it here. You can't live the hip-hop lifestyle, you can just be you, and so many have decided that FGL speak for them.
Even if you despise the band in principle, you'll have to admit this is catchy.
Or maybe you tuned out a few tracks ago...
"Night's On Fire"
David Nail
An unheralded act who gets it right enough that it rings true. A country single with a catchy chorus and a good verse. Compare this journeyman work to that of the rockers and you might decide you prefer this...
"Ain't Worth The Whiskey"
Cole Swindell
There's truth in the twangy sound, even though the twang is oftentimes in the vocal only.
We've all had our hearts broken, what do you do when you're at loose ends?
LISTEN TO MUSIC!
"Our Song"
Taylor Swift
Before she became a pop icon, when she truly appealed to everybody by being an everywoman, she was Joni Mitchell for teenagers, unselfconscious, speaking her truth, deserving of all the accolades.
This, of course, is not on Spotify. Because Taylor Swift lost track of the fact that music is for the audience and if you do it well enough there's more money than you can spend. You want your tunes everywhere, keeping them from streaming services is a failed argument, Spotify free causes conversion. After all, it's the market share winner and its paid tier is increasing at a faster rate than Apple's, need I say more?
"Lips Of An Angel"
Jack Ingram
That's right, the Hinder tune.
But this cover is better, it's more meaningful.
And now we've come full circle. Maybe I lost you in the journey, but maybe I didn't, maybe I opened your eyes, now you've got a whole new genre to explore. Start with Spotify playlists, but if you're a Sirius subscriber, and you should be, check out the Highway and Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Radio, where he blends your music and his, rock and country, you'll see we now all have the same roots, it's a big tent, we're all in it together.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
For all of you classic rockers who can't fathom the pop sound.
For all of you who wonder where the rock went.
For all of you who think country is redneck music, either totally right wing or too twangy...
This is for you.
I was once like you, and then I discovered...
"Stupid Boy"
Keith Urban
This is the breakthrough track. For me personally.
I realized I had a misimpression of country one day stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard when I decided to check out each and every Sirius station and ultimately heard Tim McGraw and realized he was good, but...
This is the track that made me believe I was truly missing out, and there was a whole new world that understood me, where I could be happy.
I know, I know, you're not supposed to begin with a ballad, you're supposed to hit 'em with the Hein, but the reason I'm starting here is...
The guitar solo.
It starts at 4:04, be sure to stay through there. You'll think it's the seventies, lying on the floor in the dark, sitting on the porch watching the world go by, when the ability to play was everything and we lived for the mellifluous sound, when it didn't have to be a hit to be your favorite.
"Bones"
Little Big Town
The band has changed sounds, it no longer works with Wayne Kirkpatrick.
This sounds like "Rumours," without being a remake. Little Big Town's "The Road To Here" is a gem, one of the best LPs of the first decade of the century, if you like this you'll like all of it.
"Before She Does"
Eric Church
If you think country doesn't rock...
Eric Church's "Caught In The Act: Live" sounds straight out of the seventies, and I'm emphasizing SOUND! It's in your face, if you like your music heavy, if you like it to squeeze out the rest of the noise in your head, this is for you.
As for the reference to Jesus...
Listen to the lyric completely, don't turn it off because they refer to the Lord.
It's:
"An' I believe that Jesus is comin' back
Before she does"
And that's just FUNNY!
Remember sense of humor, it was key in the old days, but it's been eviscerated from music today.
Now this only sounds good if you CRANK IT! If you've still got a big rig, if you've still got your JBL L100's... GO FOR IT!
"Gunpowder & Lead"
Miranda Lambert
She's become tabloid fodder, but her fame is deserved.
This is her breakthrough track, in it she's every bit as soulful and infectious as all the female singers of the seventies. She's Linda Ronstadt cutting even more loose. She sounds nothing like Ann Wilson, but they're sisters from another mother.
The way the verse draws you in and then the chorus seals the deal... Makes you want to jump up and stomp your feet.
"Nobody To Blame"
Chris Stapleton
A cross between Pure Prairie League and Gram Parsons with a dose of Charlie Daniels thrown in.
This guy deserves the accolades, he's the real deal, he'll make you a believer, not only in him, but the present and future of music.
Funny, in a world where everybody's boasting it's refreshing to hear someone take responsibility, to say they're less than.
"Drink A Beer"
Luke Bryan
Our bands did not only rock, they got sensitive too. One of the most poignant tracks CSN and sometimes Y ever cut was Stephen Stills' "4+20."
This is not the same sentiment, but...
We want our music to set us adrift. Life is complicated, music is the grease that allows us to move forward.
This is the cut that closed me on Luke. Could be by anybody, it's that good, a deserved #1.
"Back Where I Come From"
Kenny Chesney
Listen to the audience sing along, that's where this trend started, in country.
Kenny Chesney's 2006 live album is the twenty first century Jimmy Buffett LP you wanted that does not exist.
Written by Jimmy's sidekick Mac McAnally, "Back Where I Come From" will relax your muscles and make you feel good about yourself.
"I'm an old Tennessean
And I'm proud as anyone
That's where I come from"
Makes you want to go to Nashville and Memphis and Chattanooga to soak up the roots of these songs.
"If I Die Young"
The Band Perry
If you dig Stevie and Christine and want them melded together in one meaningful cut...
This is for you.
"Still Feels Good"
Rascals Flatts
What a TEAR!
Come on, you like picking, you like energy, if this doesn't hook you you're already dead.
"Stay A Little Longer"
Brothers Osborne
Speaking of wailing.
This just makes you want to take a road trip, one of the kind before mobile phones, when it was just you and the radio with the top down, hand banging on the outside of the door to the music.
This ain't that far from the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.
But stay for the solo, you'll be blown away, this ain't no "Deliverance," these guys all have Gibsons and unlike the pop prima donnas they practiced!
When the song changes around 2:45, hang on for the ride, it's kind of like the break in "Hotel California," it starts somewhere and then it takes you to a place you had no idea existed.
"She's Got A Way With Words"
Blake Shelton
He walked by me at the Hollywood Bowl and I was struck by...how tall and what a hunk he was.
And now I'm stretching you a bit. But think back to the days of yore, when you stopped at a roadhouse or diner out in the boonies and there was a jukebox filled with country tunes and there was always one with a turn of the phrase that cracked you up, that entranced you.
"Round Here"
Florida Georgia Line
Did you go to college? Did you drink beer? Did you live for Friday nights when you took it to the limit?
Then this song is for you.
FGL nails it here. You can't live the hip-hop lifestyle, you can just be you, and so many have decided that FGL speak for them.
Even if you despise the band in principle, you'll have to admit this is catchy.
Or maybe you tuned out a few tracks ago...
"Night's On Fire"
David Nail
An unheralded act who gets it right enough that it rings true. A country single with a catchy chorus and a good verse. Compare this journeyman work to that of the rockers and you might decide you prefer this...
"Ain't Worth The Whiskey"
Cole Swindell
There's truth in the twangy sound, even though the twang is oftentimes in the vocal only.
We've all had our hearts broken, what do you do when you're at loose ends?
LISTEN TO MUSIC!
"Our Song"
Taylor Swift
Before she became a pop icon, when she truly appealed to everybody by being an everywoman, she was Joni Mitchell for teenagers, unselfconscious, speaking her truth, deserving of all the accolades.
This, of course, is not on Spotify. Because Taylor Swift lost track of the fact that music is for the audience and if you do it well enough there's more money than you can spend. You want your tunes everywhere, keeping them from streaming services is a failed argument, Spotify free causes conversion. After all, it's the market share winner and its paid tier is increasing at a faster rate than Apple's, need I say more?
"Lips Of An Angel"
Jack Ingram
That's right, the Hinder tune.
But this cover is better, it's more meaningful.
And now we've come full circle. Maybe I lost you in the journey, but maybe I didn't, maybe I opened your eyes, now you've got a whole new genre to explore. Start with Spotify playlists, but if you're a Sirius subscriber, and you should be, check out the Highway and Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Radio, where he blends your music and his, rock and country, you'll see we now all have the same roots, it's a big tent, we're all in it together.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5613&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Country+Primer
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
My Physical
"I'm alive and I'm free
Who wouldn't wanna be me"
Dr. Becker goes to more shows than I do.
We forget how many fans there are. Insiders stay in catering, conversing, whereas those who pay to get in, live for the music.
I know, I know, physicals are passe, you no longer need them.
Hogwash. Mitch diagnosed my leukemia. He said I should tattoo on my arm that I need a physical every year. Because you never know what will happen. Like that actor on that TV show, who died of an aortic aneurysm...even the worst doctor could have diagnosed that, but you've got to see the physician to begin with. As someone put it to me so eloquently, you can't be too scared to get better.
And I am getting better, from my shoulder surgery, what an ordeal!
I went to Dr. Knapp last week and he said I was back on track. The visit before I was behind the curve. It was bad genes, I wasn't that stretchy, he said to call my mother or father and blame them, if they were still alive.
My mom still is. She's gonna be 90 in December.
And that's what Mitch was talking about. The ninety year olds he takes care of. He says they adapt.
Which is hard for us boomers who think we're gonna rule forever.
It's the memory, it starts to go. I heard from an old classmate who caught me up on some of our high school brethren. I knew only half. My mother threw out my yearbooks so I can't cross-check, but would I remember them anyway?
And Mitch starts talking about the inability to heal when we age and then he says he'd prefer that I no longer ski.
HUH?
What if I fell?
Now I'm not one who likes to give up. Then again, it snowed in Vermont over the weekend and on Monday I watched videos of people skiing at Mad River and Jay Peak and I thought to myself...I might be unable to climb to the top of those mountains in the snow. You see the Gleevec I take, the main side effect is fatigue. It's like someone has their hand on your shoulder, a heavy weight. I don't feel it in regular life, but when I exercise?
But at least I'm alive.
Tom Hayden? How can he die?
The musicians, the political icons, they're dropping like flies. It's so weird, we thought this would never happen to us. But it is.
Mitch said he started on his bucket list at fifty.
That's why I skied 53 days last year. Because I know I won't be able to do it forever.
What will I be able to do forever?
What do I WANT to do forever?
That's what they don't tell you about aging, you no longer care. You've seen the trick, you realize no one is remembered and you wonder...what is life about?
All those movies hyped every weekend? If any of them are good, you'll find out.
All those products being advertised?
You no longer need them, you need so little. I'm a hoarder, but for the first time in my life I could throw everything out. There will not be a museum of my life. And when I die, my heirs will just toss everything anyway.
Weird.
So Mitch went to Desert Trip. He paid for the pit, and the dining experience too. And if you listened to him...
The people who went had a good time.
Because these are the best times in life, going to the show.
We thought it was about records, but now they're secondary to the live experience.
I just heard Bon Jovi on Howard Stern. Did you see that commercial Jon's in? Cringeworthy. Doesn't he have enough money? And the new album is instantly forgettable. But when they set up and did "Bad Medicine," I wanted to go to the show. How could they be that good in the AM? I was listening critically, was this really live? It was astounding.
And then I thought of "Wanted Dead Or Alive," and its clone "Blaze Of Glory," and "You Give Love A Bad Name," and I realized not only was I a Bon Jovi fan, not only had I gotten over any bad reaction, but that I wanted to be inside the arena thrusting my arm in the air.
We all want to be inside the arena thrusting our arms in the air.
And when I was making an appointment for a phone call follow-up, to get my results, Jennifer told me she liked my piece about the Keith Urban show, SHE WENT!
I was astounded. She's African-American.
But she lives for country.
I asked her how she discovered acts.
She said the Highway, on Sirius, as well as the local terrestrial station.
And I'm completely confounded. I write about country and there are crickets. My audience seems to be made up of old white men yearning for the days of classic rock, only into shoegazing artists today. Or youngsters. I'm supposed to write about what's cool. Kanye and the Dirty Projectors. And when I write about Bieber the audience winces and...
Insiders are judging each other while the audience just can't get enough of their chosen genre.
The more I learn the less I know.
But I do know that when Jennifer mentioned Keith Urban that led us into a discussion of Brett Eldredge, Little Big Town, Eric Church...there's a whole subculture. I felt rooted, like I still cared, like I wanted to live forever.
"Oh the sun is shinin'
And this road keeps windin'"
Who wouldn't wanna be me.
http://spoti.fi/2es0kGM?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
P.S. Yes, he stuck his finger up my tush. I don't know why guys have such a problem with this, or maybe Mitch just knows how to be gentle.
P.P.S. I want to be a doctor in my next life. I want to give back, take care of people. Because it's only about people. And I'm fascinated by the science. Mitch was explaining how the blood flows, how it goes from your feet to your heart without a pump. How the arteries push with the pulse and there are valves and...it was all so fascinating!
P.P.P.S. Don't take Protonix and don't eat salt. That's why you go every year, for the updates, which are frequently contrary to public opinion. Proton-pump inhibitors can cause dementia, although Mitch said I did not have it. He said you can tell by the way people talk. As for salt... His mother-in-law cut back and avoided congestive heart failure. I rarely salt anything, but Mitch said most prepared food comes with salt, because otherwise they can't sell it, people don't want it, even at Whole Foods.
P.P.P.P.S. I went to the eye doctor yesterday, he said within ten years I'd get cornea implants and I would see as well as I do with my contacts! Oh, what a wonderful world we live in.
"WATCH: Skiing Powder @MadRiverGlen In October": http://bit.ly/2dGojhs?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
"Watch: This Party Ski Down Jay Peak Yesterday Looks All-Time": http://bit.ly/2dFXGhm?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Who wouldn't wanna be me"
Dr. Becker goes to more shows than I do.
We forget how many fans there are. Insiders stay in catering, conversing, whereas those who pay to get in, live for the music.
I know, I know, physicals are passe, you no longer need them.
Hogwash. Mitch diagnosed my leukemia. He said I should tattoo on my arm that I need a physical every year. Because you never know what will happen. Like that actor on that TV show, who died of an aortic aneurysm...even the worst doctor could have diagnosed that, but you've got to see the physician to begin with. As someone put it to me so eloquently, you can't be too scared to get better.
And I am getting better, from my shoulder surgery, what an ordeal!
I went to Dr. Knapp last week and he said I was back on track. The visit before I was behind the curve. It was bad genes, I wasn't that stretchy, he said to call my mother or father and blame them, if they were still alive.
My mom still is. She's gonna be 90 in December.
And that's what Mitch was talking about. The ninety year olds he takes care of. He says they adapt.
Which is hard for us boomers who think we're gonna rule forever.
It's the memory, it starts to go. I heard from an old classmate who caught me up on some of our high school brethren. I knew only half. My mother threw out my yearbooks so I can't cross-check, but would I remember them anyway?
And Mitch starts talking about the inability to heal when we age and then he says he'd prefer that I no longer ski.
HUH?
What if I fell?
Now I'm not one who likes to give up. Then again, it snowed in Vermont over the weekend and on Monday I watched videos of people skiing at Mad River and Jay Peak and I thought to myself...I might be unable to climb to the top of those mountains in the snow. You see the Gleevec I take, the main side effect is fatigue. It's like someone has their hand on your shoulder, a heavy weight. I don't feel it in regular life, but when I exercise?
But at least I'm alive.
Tom Hayden? How can he die?
The musicians, the political icons, they're dropping like flies. It's so weird, we thought this would never happen to us. But it is.
Mitch said he started on his bucket list at fifty.
That's why I skied 53 days last year. Because I know I won't be able to do it forever.
What will I be able to do forever?
What do I WANT to do forever?
That's what they don't tell you about aging, you no longer care. You've seen the trick, you realize no one is remembered and you wonder...what is life about?
All those movies hyped every weekend? If any of them are good, you'll find out.
All those products being advertised?
You no longer need them, you need so little. I'm a hoarder, but for the first time in my life I could throw everything out. There will not be a museum of my life. And when I die, my heirs will just toss everything anyway.
Weird.
So Mitch went to Desert Trip. He paid for the pit, and the dining experience too. And if you listened to him...
The people who went had a good time.
Because these are the best times in life, going to the show.
We thought it was about records, but now they're secondary to the live experience.
I just heard Bon Jovi on Howard Stern. Did you see that commercial Jon's in? Cringeworthy. Doesn't he have enough money? And the new album is instantly forgettable. But when they set up and did "Bad Medicine," I wanted to go to the show. How could they be that good in the AM? I was listening critically, was this really live? It was astounding.
And then I thought of "Wanted Dead Or Alive," and its clone "Blaze Of Glory," and "You Give Love A Bad Name," and I realized not only was I a Bon Jovi fan, not only had I gotten over any bad reaction, but that I wanted to be inside the arena thrusting my arm in the air.
We all want to be inside the arena thrusting our arms in the air.
And when I was making an appointment for a phone call follow-up, to get my results, Jennifer told me she liked my piece about the Keith Urban show, SHE WENT!
I was astounded. She's African-American.
But she lives for country.
I asked her how she discovered acts.
She said the Highway, on Sirius, as well as the local terrestrial station.
And I'm completely confounded. I write about country and there are crickets. My audience seems to be made up of old white men yearning for the days of classic rock, only into shoegazing artists today. Or youngsters. I'm supposed to write about what's cool. Kanye and the Dirty Projectors. And when I write about Bieber the audience winces and...
Insiders are judging each other while the audience just can't get enough of their chosen genre.
The more I learn the less I know.
But I do know that when Jennifer mentioned Keith Urban that led us into a discussion of Brett Eldredge, Little Big Town, Eric Church...there's a whole subculture. I felt rooted, like I still cared, like I wanted to live forever.
"Oh the sun is shinin'
And this road keeps windin'"
Who wouldn't wanna be me.
http://spoti.fi/2es0kGM?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
P.S. Yes, he stuck his finger up my tush. I don't know why guys have such a problem with this, or maybe Mitch just knows how to be gentle.
P.P.S. I want to be a doctor in my next life. I want to give back, take care of people. Because it's only about people. And I'm fascinated by the science. Mitch was explaining how the blood flows, how it goes from your feet to your heart without a pump. How the arteries push with the pulse and there are valves and...it was all so fascinating!
P.P.P.S. Don't take Protonix and don't eat salt. That's why you go every year, for the updates, which are frequently contrary to public opinion. Proton-pump inhibitors can cause dementia, although Mitch said I did not have it. He said you can tell by the way people talk. As for salt... His mother-in-law cut back and avoided congestive heart failure. I rarely salt anything, but Mitch said most prepared food comes with salt, because otherwise they can't sell it, people don't want it, even at Whole Foods.
P.P.P.P.S. I went to the eye doctor yesterday, he said within ten years I'd get cornea implants and I would see as well as I do with my contacts! Oh, what a wonderful world we live in.
"WATCH: Skiing Powder @MadRiverGlen In October": http://bit.ly/2dGojhs?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
"Watch: This Party Ski Down Jay Peak Yesterday Looks All-Time": http://bit.ly/2dFXGhm?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=My+Physical
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Monday, 24 October 2016
Joanne
It's a stiff.
Ignore the sales chart. That's where hard core fans and looky-loos go to participate, the store, the action is now in streaming, where we can see right away if anybody is listening. AND THEY'RE NOT!
It's staggering, not one track off of Lady Gaga's new collection is in the Spotify United States Top 50. It'd be like putting out a new "Star Wars" movie and finding no one in the theatre, ending up with a gross of les than seven figures for the weekend. How did she go so wrong?
Well, her last album, "Artpop," was a flop.
And then she detoured into a collaboration with Tony Bennett.
And now she's put out an album without a hit. And she lived and died on the hit.
But the same thing happened to Katy Perry. That Olympics song? Straight to the dumper.
What is happening?
The rules are changing. The audience is changing. And if you're looking for the mainstream media to jump in and set you straight, or the major labels, you're going to continue to be blind.
We live in an on demand culture. Data rules. And we can tell if something is successful instantly. And it's hard to resuscitate a project, especially when it's got the stink upon it.
Five of "Joanne"'s fourteen tracks don't even have a million streams.
Six break a million but don't reach two.
"Perfect Illusion," the advance track, is at 38 million and change. But #50 on the Spotify US Top Fifty, Lil Yachty's "One Night," has 38 million streams. And #1, "Starboy," the Weeknd's collaboration with Daft Punk, has a cume of 144 million plus, and it's racking them up at the rate of 1,285,283 a day.
Now Gaga used collaborators too, but that's become the story, whereas it's only the end product that make a difference, and "Joanne"...is a curious collection of songs that lean more towards rock than EDM, and the electronic sound dominates today.
Isn't it funny how the cognoscenti pooh-poohed EDM but despite the Sillerman shenanigans and the bad press, i.e. O.D.'s, the truth is EDM has never been more dominant in America, all those deejays became producers and the sound has triumphed.
It'd be one thing if Gaga didn't depend upon hits, if she made it on critical acclaim alone. Adele rode that paradigm with "25," banking on oldsters to buy CDs ("Adele's Most Fervent Fans? Soccer Moms": http://on.wsj.com/1Q9JJml)?utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne but CDs are a de minimis part of the picture now, and at least she led "25" with "Hello," a much bigger hit than "Perfect Illusion."
You see while the oldsters and marginal players were bitching about streaming payments and the death of albums a younger generation stole their lunch. They moved into the vacuum and triumphed. Just ask a manager, the only radio format that means anything is Top Forty. Go to number one on Active Rock and...you might be able to sell out large clubs. Have a bunch of hits on Active Rock and you still can't fill arenas.
This is the new truth. Now it's about pop music released on a constant basis, you don't want to lose your stranglehold on the public. Bieber put out an album not quite a year ago that contained huge hits and he's already got new product in the marketplace, his collaborations with DJ Snake and Major Lazer are BOTH in the Spotify Top Ten (with cumes exceeding 334 million and 435 million respectively).
If Katy Perry were smart, she'd call up Dr. Luke right now and put out a track before Christmas, to shore up her base. Instead, she's staying at home creating a long player, a bad strategy.
If long players counted... The opening cut on "Joanne" would have huge numbers. But the truth is it's not quite at one and a half million. People are cherry-picking what they want to hear. And the cuts at the end of the LP... Are the weakest in streaming numbers.
Albums were a good strategy when it was about ownership, not listenership, when you got paid on every track, no matter how bad it was.
Now you sink or swim on the quality of the music. A lame track on an album isn't worth the time you put into making it.
The data doesn't lie. Labels can influence radio, spread false stories to a somnambulant press, but now that we know what people are listening to or not...
It's a whole new ball game.
P.S. "Joanne" is not bad, just not good enough. You listen and hear quality, but it's not great, and today you've got to fire at 10 to succeed.
P.P.S. Everybody can hear your music these days. The barrier to entry is low. I never would have bought "Joanne," but I did check it out on Spotify. That's a good thing, that I'm interested. The bad thing is it didn't make me want to hear it again.
P.P.P.S. My favorite cut on the album is "Sinner's Prayer," track 8, which barely breaks a million in cume. It's buried in the tsunami of hype. Better to space out your releases, if this was a surprise track it would have gotten more traction.
P.P.P.P.S. Even Bruno Mars is struggling. His "24K Magic" is #14 and on the way down and it's got a cume of 40 million. It's a rough game these days, you can't buy a hit, you've got to deliver.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Can she sell a ticket? Streams can be marginal yet you can still garner enough fans to fill buildings, this is the game for the oldsters and wannabes, because they can never rack up enough streams to make big money on Spotify.
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I doubt there will be instant sellouts, but she could do good business, or fail completely. It's a question of how many hard core fans want to pay big bucks to see her and how many looky-loos get caught up in the excitement, which is waning as the album sinks in the marketplace.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. The Super Bowl! Bad timing. The album and the on-sale should have been the same day. You want to strike when the iron is hot. Then again, she might kill it on Super Sunday and create demand. We do live in a live experience culture. But the truth is Gaga doesn't have that many hits, she's become a creature of media, how many hard core Gaga fans are out there? Many fewer than you think.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Ignore the sales chart. That's where hard core fans and looky-loos go to participate, the store, the action is now in streaming, where we can see right away if anybody is listening. AND THEY'RE NOT!
It's staggering, not one track off of Lady Gaga's new collection is in the Spotify United States Top 50. It'd be like putting out a new "Star Wars" movie and finding no one in the theatre, ending up with a gross of les than seven figures for the weekend. How did she go so wrong?
Well, her last album, "Artpop," was a flop.
And then she detoured into a collaboration with Tony Bennett.
And now she's put out an album without a hit. And she lived and died on the hit.
But the same thing happened to Katy Perry. That Olympics song? Straight to the dumper.
What is happening?
The rules are changing. The audience is changing. And if you're looking for the mainstream media to jump in and set you straight, or the major labels, you're going to continue to be blind.
We live in an on demand culture. Data rules. And we can tell if something is successful instantly. And it's hard to resuscitate a project, especially when it's got the stink upon it.
Five of "Joanne"'s fourteen tracks don't even have a million streams.
Six break a million but don't reach two.
"Perfect Illusion," the advance track, is at 38 million and change. But #50 on the Spotify US Top Fifty, Lil Yachty's "One Night," has 38 million streams. And #1, "Starboy," the Weeknd's collaboration with Daft Punk, has a cume of 144 million plus, and it's racking them up at the rate of 1,285,283 a day.
Now Gaga used collaborators too, but that's become the story, whereas it's only the end product that make a difference, and "Joanne"...is a curious collection of songs that lean more towards rock than EDM, and the electronic sound dominates today.
Isn't it funny how the cognoscenti pooh-poohed EDM but despite the Sillerman shenanigans and the bad press, i.e. O.D.'s, the truth is EDM has never been more dominant in America, all those deejays became producers and the sound has triumphed.
It'd be one thing if Gaga didn't depend upon hits, if she made it on critical acclaim alone. Adele rode that paradigm with "25," banking on oldsters to buy CDs ("Adele's Most Fervent Fans? Soccer Moms": http://on.wsj.com/1Q9JJml)?utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne but CDs are a de minimis part of the picture now, and at least she led "25" with "Hello," a much bigger hit than "Perfect Illusion."
You see while the oldsters and marginal players were bitching about streaming payments and the death of albums a younger generation stole their lunch. They moved into the vacuum and triumphed. Just ask a manager, the only radio format that means anything is Top Forty. Go to number one on Active Rock and...you might be able to sell out large clubs. Have a bunch of hits on Active Rock and you still can't fill arenas.
This is the new truth. Now it's about pop music released on a constant basis, you don't want to lose your stranglehold on the public. Bieber put out an album not quite a year ago that contained huge hits and he's already got new product in the marketplace, his collaborations with DJ Snake and Major Lazer are BOTH in the Spotify Top Ten (with cumes exceeding 334 million and 435 million respectively).
If Katy Perry were smart, she'd call up Dr. Luke right now and put out a track before Christmas, to shore up her base. Instead, she's staying at home creating a long player, a bad strategy.
If long players counted... The opening cut on "Joanne" would have huge numbers. But the truth is it's not quite at one and a half million. People are cherry-picking what they want to hear. And the cuts at the end of the LP... Are the weakest in streaming numbers.
Albums were a good strategy when it was about ownership, not listenership, when you got paid on every track, no matter how bad it was.
Now you sink or swim on the quality of the music. A lame track on an album isn't worth the time you put into making it.
The data doesn't lie. Labels can influence radio, spread false stories to a somnambulant press, but now that we know what people are listening to or not...
It's a whole new ball game.
P.S. "Joanne" is not bad, just not good enough. You listen and hear quality, but it's not great, and today you've got to fire at 10 to succeed.
P.P.S. Everybody can hear your music these days. The barrier to entry is low. I never would have bought "Joanne," but I did check it out on Spotify. That's a good thing, that I'm interested. The bad thing is it didn't make me want to hear it again.
P.P.P.S. My favorite cut on the album is "Sinner's Prayer," track 8, which barely breaks a million in cume. It's buried in the tsunami of hype. Better to space out your releases, if this was a surprise track it would have gotten more traction.
P.P.P.P.S. Even Bruno Mars is struggling. His "24K Magic" is #14 and on the way down and it's got a cume of 40 million. It's a rough game these days, you can't buy a hit, you've got to deliver.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Can she sell a ticket? Streams can be marginal yet you can still garner enough fans to fill buildings, this is the game for the oldsters and wannabes, because they can never rack up enough streams to make big money on Spotify.
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I doubt there will be instant sellouts, but she could do good business, or fail completely. It's a question of how many hard core fans want to pay big bucks to see her and how many looky-loos get caught up in the excitement, which is waning as the album sinks in the marketplace.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. The Super Bowl! Bad timing. The album and the on-sale should have been the same day. You want to strike when the iron is hot. Then again, she might kill it on Super Sunday and create demand. We do live in a live experience culture. But the truth is Gaga doesn't have that many hits, she's become a creature of media, how many hard core Gaga fans are out there? Many fewer than you think.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Joanne
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
AT&T/Time Warner
It's a game of musical chairs.
AT&T is not looking to win so much as to SURVIVE!
Just think about it, Time used to be a colossus, Warner too. The latter was early into cable, its music division fed the growth and now both are indie entities today, long gone. While the CEOs were going for shareholder value, they sealed their future, one in which standalone companies cannot survive.
The last twenty years have been about disruption.
Now we've entered the era of consolidation.
The harbinger was Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp. Not only did it have the billions to pay for it, it was a flanking move, to ensure that the social network was not eclipsed in the future. The four behemoths are doing this ad infinitum now, that's right, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon rule the tech sphere today. Can anybody compete, can anybody win?
Just ask Diapers.com, which was squeezed into selling to Amazon. Zappos too. And if Amazon wanted to own music streaming it could do that as well, by buying Spotify or potentially lowering prices. The power of these winners is far beyond that of their competitors. Actually, the goal of today's startups is to sell out. Sure, Snap may be independent, but there are always outliers.
So what do we learn?
There will be less.
This is the honking headline. When even Lady Gaga can't win you know that the middle and lower classes of art have no chance. There might be 400 scripted series today, but there will be many fewer tomorrow. We're going to gravitate to the big winners. And someone has to fund the production, and outlets don't want to bleed endless cash, right now they're doing it for the market share, in a world where distribution rules.
That's the story here. How he with the pipes is in control. We used to think distributors were dumb, an afterthought, just like concert promoters were the ass end of the business, funny how things turn around.
Concert promoters won because recordings nosedived and the live experience became everything in a cold, digital world.
Distributors are winning because they're the ones who reach out and touch consumers. They're the last mile. No matter how good something is, if it's not up front and center for the consumer, if it's not available, it will fail.
Verizon is busy building an advertising platform. Investment is low, but the play is too conservative, peopled by also-rans.
AT&T is making a big bet, paid for by debt. But AT&T wants to beat not only Verizon, but Comcast-NBC/Universal.
And T-Mobile is gaining customers via low prices, but that just makes it a target, you don't think T-Mobile is gonna remain independent, do you?
Is this bad for consumers?
Well, let's start with antitrust. AT&T and Time Warner did not make this deal willy-nilly, they consulted with attorneys. And the truth is...it feels anti-competitive but there's a strong argument it is not. After all, AT&T does not dominate mobile, and the aforementioned T-Mobile is making inroads, and Time Warner does not dominate television. So, it looks like with some small divestitures and conditions this passes.
Then what?
Then you've got a world where there are three record labels instead of six, fewer places to sell your wares. And despite all the indie hoo-hah you need the major to promote your project, to get the word out, the major has relationships with radio and media and...
What's next, is the "New York Times" part of a bigger operation?
The "Times" blew distribution. It owned the doorstep and is losing ground online. That's a formula for death. And the "Times" is one of the winners. When competition ramps up you don't cut, try to balance the budget, you invest, as AT&T is doing here.
This is what happens when you reach maturity. Not only is television mature, the internet is too. We haven't seen any radical innovation since Uber. Now it's all about business moves.
So, you don't have to watch your shows on HBO. There are numerous alternatives, Showtime and Starz, also owned by bigger entities. But you do have to watch something. And chances are, despite the low barrier to entry online, you're gonna watch the offerings of the big kahunas. You get lost by yourself online. You can't gain traction, there's just too much noise.
Philippe Dauman put a stake in the heart of Viacom by worrying about stock price, with worthless buybacks and an endless talent drain. In today's world you don't balance the books, you invest, and Wall Street will steer you wrong. How did Amazon become such a behemoth? By spending! Worrying about tomorrow!
This is not AOL/Time Warner. This is not a dream. This is not about a future we cannot understand. And it's less about synergy than survival. He who does not grow and become the platform of choice will be eaten up tomorrow.
It's the way of the world.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
AT&T is not looking to win so much as to SURVIVE!
Just think about it, Time used to be a colossus, Warner too. The latter was early into cable, its music division fed the growth and now both are indie entities today, long gone. While the CEOs were going for shareholder value, they sealed their future, one in which standalone companies cannot survive.
The last twenty years have been about disruption.
Now we've entered the era of consolidation.
The harbinger was Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp. Not only did it have the billions to pay for it, it was a flanking move, to ensure that the social network was not eclipsed in the future. The four behemoths are doing this ad infinitum now, that's right, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon rule the tech sphere today. Can anybody compete, can anybody win?
Just ask Diapers.com, which was squeezed into selling to Amazon. Zappos too. And if Amazon wanted to own music streaming it could do that as well, by buying Spotify or potentially lowering prices. The power of these winners is far beyond that of their competitors. Actually, the goal of today's startups is to sell out. Sure, Snap may be independent, but there are always outliers.
So what do we learn?
There will be less.
This is the honking headline. When even Lady Gaga can't win you know that the middle and lower classes of art have no chance. There might be 400 scripted series today, but there will be many fewer tomorrow. We're going to gravitate to the big winners. And someone has to fund the production, and outlets don't want to bleed endless cash, right now they're doing it for the market share, in a world where distribution rules.
That's the story here. How he with the pipes is in control. We used to think distributors were dumb, an afterthought, just like concert promoters were the ass end of the business, funny how things turn around.
Concert promoters won because recordings nosedived and the live experience became everything in a cold, digital world.
Distributors are winning because they're the ones who reach out and touch consumers. They're the last mile. No matter how good something is, if it's not up front and center for the consumer, if it's not available, it will fail.
Verizon is busy building an advertising platform. Investment is low, but the play is too conservative, peopled by also-rans.
AT&T is making a big bet, paid for by debt. But AT&T wants to beat not only Verizon, but Comcast-NBC/Universal.
And T-Mobile is gaining customers via low prices, but that just makes it a target, you don't think T-Mobile is gonna remain independent, do you?
Is this bad for consumers?
Well, let's start with antitrust. AT&T and Time Warner did not make this deal willy-nilly, they consulted with attorneys. And the truth is...it feels anti-competitive but there's a strong argument it is not. After all, AT&T does not dominate mobile, and the aforementioned T-Mobile is making inroads, and Time Warner does not dominate television. So, it looks like with some small divestitures and conditions this passes.
Then what?
Then you've got a world where there are three record labels instead of six, fewer places to sell your wares. And despite all the indie hoo-hah you need the major to promote your project, to get the word out, the major has relationships with radio and media and...
What's next, is the "New York Times" part of a bigger operation?
The "Times" blew distribution. It owned the doorstep and is losing ground online. That's a formula for death. And the "Times" is one of the winners. When competition ramps up you don't cut, try to balance the budget, you invest, as AT&T is doing here.
This is what happens when you reach maturity. Not only is television mature, the internet is too. We haven't seen any radical innovation since Uber. Now it's all about business moves.
So, you don't have to watch your shows on HBO. There are numerous alternatives, Showtime and Starz, also owned by bigger entities. But you do have to watch something. And chances are, despite the low barrier to entry online, you're gonna watch the offerings of the big kahunas. You get lost by yourself online. You can't gain traction, there's just too much noise.
Philippe Dauman put a stake in the heart of Viacom by worrying about stock price, with worthless buybacks and an endless talent drain. In today's world you don't balance the books, you invest, and Wall Street will steer you wrong. How did Amazon become such a behemoth? By spending! Worrying about tomorrow!
This is not AOL/Time Warner. This is not a dream. This is not about a future we cannot understand. And it's less about synergy than survival. He who does not grow and become the platform of choice will be eaten up tomorrow.
It's the way of the world.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=AT%26T%2FTime+Warner
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Sunday, 23 October 2016
Dylan's Nobel
They want Bob Dylan to talk.
But he listens.
That's what was so astounding about his 2015 MusiCares speech. He's been listening all along. To the naysayers, the phonies, those heaping false accolades. He's been on his own journey, beholden to no one, and that's why he's both pushed the envelope and become revered.
But that's not enough, because he doesn't talk.
Prizes are for chumps. When you're young, you want to win, you're envious and jealous of those in the spotlight. Age and you realize it's all a game, winners are rarely the best. As for longevity... Try naming the Grammy Albums of the Year, good luck.
Not that there's anything wrong with winning, but it's about the work, it's about your life. The triumphs are all personal. You realize this if you stay in the game long enough, you've got to realign yourself, otherwise you're a slave to the audience.
Bob Dylan is not a slave to his audience.
Anybody who goes to a show knows this. He reworks the material, plays piano when you expect a guitar. He's on his own journey and you can decide to get on the bus or to stay off.
I'm off.
But I respect what he's doing. Trying to keep himself happy, test his own limits. He's lucky to have an audience, but he's not worried what it thinks.
That's an artist. In an era where there's far too little artistry.
An artist takes in, synthesizes, filters, then throws it back to us in a way that our own lives become illuminated. That's what broke Bob Dylan through to begin with. A Dylan who probably wouldn't have made it if it weren't for some simple twists of fate. Most notably, employing manager Albert Grossman, who got his songs covered by his charges Peter, Paul & Mary. Dylan wasn't ready for prime time, with his reedy voice singing folk songs.
And then he was.
I don't think "Like A Rolling Stone" is the best rock song ever recorded, more false accolades, but in an era of tumult it triumphed. The song wasn't that odd on the radio in 1965. Although many believed his voice was substandard.
But that voice became iconic.
Hit singles followed, "Positively 4th Street" twisting our perceptions, weren't you supposed to be nice in songs?
And then he disappeared and returned as a country crooner and ultimately wowed us with "Blood On The Tracks," when we all but counted him out.
Then came Christianity and so many twists and turns... The man was living his life in public, but that wasn't enough, it still isn't enough, people want him to EXPLAIN IT!
But Bob never did. And famously said he did not know better. That he was no seer, that you had to look to yourself for answers. I know this now, I didn't as a teenager. We're all here temporarily, none of us will be remembered, if you're living your life for show the joke is on you, and each of us has his own special gift.
That's what Dylan sang in "Dear Landlord."
I could curse the faux followers. The johnny-come-latelies who quote second-rate lyrics. But the best of us have followers amongst all walks of life. That's when you know you've made it, when the looky-loos, the people you abhor, are on the train too.
That's rock and roll. I was there first. Your music sucks.
But Dylan never got into the wars. Well, he castigated reporters and then receded. Why would he talk to these same nincompoops now?
And then there are the novelists pissed he got the Nobel, that they don't get Grammys. That's right, and you don't get a fraction of the attention Bob Dylan does. Because you didn't write a classic, you're just jealous. There's no more jealous person than a rejected artist, one whose sun has been usurped by another. It's not a competition, be your best self, and if you're looking for accolades...
Now we're back at the beginning.
Nine hundred grand. A week's touring for Dylan, he doesn't need it for the money.
And if you can name three Nobel winners, you're lying.
It's just that...one of us was recognized. We had a boomer President who played saxophone on television but we still feel inadequate, we still crave plaudits, we want people to know we lived through the best era, we changed the world.
We did. Because we had artists like Bob who marched to the beat of their own drummer. He was hungry, you can't make it without desire, but your goal is to keep the public at bay, while entrancing it.
The rabble-rousers want him to be appreciative. Want him to drop words of wisdom. They want him to be just like them.
But he's not. He's Bob Dylan. He'll probably fly to Sweden to accept the award, he'll say one word or a plethora of them. Because he also understands it's show business, you make the most of your moment, and you do this by not giving what people want.
They want him to talk.
Which is exactly why he's staying silent. The absence of words is deafening. It's a bigger statement than any sentence.
As Bob put it so eloquently in "I And I"...
"I got nothin' to say, 'specially about whatever was"
You see he made shoes for everyone, even you, and you're angry he's still going barefoot.
Then again, no man sees his face and lives.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4gE7FaS7lkB44bqWkbJejw?utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
But he listens.
That's what was so astounding about his 2015 MusiCares speech. He's been listening all along. To the naysayers, the phonies, those heaping false accolades. He's been on his own journey, beholden to no one, and that's why he's both pushed the envelope and become revered.
But that's not enough, because he doesn't talk.
Prizes are for chumps. When you're young, you want to win, you're envious and jealous of those in the spotlight. Age and you realize it's all a game, winners are rarely the best. As for longevity... Try naming the Grammy Albums of the Year, good luck.
Not that there's anything wrong with winning, but it's about the work, it's about your life. The triumphs are all personal. You realize this if you stay in the game long enough, you've got to realign yourself, otherwise you're a slave to the audience.
Bob Dylan is not a slave to his audience.
Anybody who goes to a show knows this. He reworks the material, plays piano when you expect a guitar. He's on his own journey and you can decide to get on the bus or to stay off.
I'm off.
But I respect what he's doing. Trying to keep himself happy, test his own limits. He's lucky to have an audience, but he's not worried what it thinks.
That's an artist. In an era where there's far too little artistry.
An artist takes in, synthesizes, filters, then throws it back to us in a way that our own lives become illuminated. That's what broke Bob Dylan through to begin with. A Dylan who probably wouldn't have made it if it weren't for some simple twists of fate. Most notably, employing manager Albert Grossman, who got his songs covered by his charges Peter, Paul & Mary. Dylan wasn't ready for prime time, with his reedy voice singing folk songs.
And then he was.
I don't think "Like A Rolling Stone" is the best rock song ever recorded, more false accolades, but in an era of tumult it triumphed. The song wasn't that odd on the radio in 1965. Although many believed his voice was substandard.
But that voice became iconic.
Hit singles followed, "Positively 4th Street" twisting our perceptions, weren't you supposed to be nice in songs?
And then he disappeared and returned as a country crooner and ultimately wowed us with "Blood On The Tracks," when we all but counted him out.
Then came Christianity and so many twists and turns... The man was living his life in public, but that wasn't enough, it still isn't enough, people want him to EXPLAIN IT!
But Bob never did. And famously said he did not know better. That he was no seer, that you had to look to yourself for answers. I know this now, I didn't as a teenager. We're all here temporarily, none of us will be remembered, if you're living your life for show the joke is on you, and each of us has his own special gift.
That's what Dylan sang in "Dear Landlord."
I could curse the faux followers. The johnny-come-latelies who quote second-rate lyrics. But the best of us have followers amongst all walks of life. That's when you know you've made it, when the looky-loos, the people you abhor, are on the train too.
That's rock and roll. I was there first. Your music sucks.
But Dylan never got into the wars. Well, he castigated reporters and then receded. Why would he talk to these same nincompoops now?
And then there are the novelists pissed he got the Nobel, that they don't get Grammys. That's right, and you don't get a fraction of the attention Bob Dylan does. Because you didn't write a classic, you're just jealous. There's no more jealous person than a rejected artist, one whose sun has been usurped by another. It's not a competition, be your best self, and if you're looking for accolades...
Now we're back at the beginning.
Nine hundred grand. A week's touring for Dylan, he doesn't need it for the money.
And if you can name three Nobel winners, you're lying.
It's just that...one of us was recognized. We had a boomer President who played saxophone on television but we still feel inadequate, we still crave plaudits, we want people to know we lived through the best era, we changed the world.
We did. Because we had artists like Bob who marched to the beat of their own drummer. He was hungry, you can't make it without desire, but your goal is to keep the public at bay, while entrancing it.
The rabble-rousers want him to be appreciative. Want him to drop words of wisdom. They want him to be just like them.
But he's not. He's Bob Dylan. He'll probably fly to Sweden to accept the award, he'll say one word or a plethora of them. Because he also understands it's show business, you make the most of your moment, and you do this by not giving what people want.
They want him to talk.
Which is exactly why he's staying silent. The absence of words is deafening. It's a bigger statement than any sentence.
As Bob put it so eloquently in "I And I"...
"I got nothin' to say, 'specially about whatever was"
You see he made shoes for everyone, even you, and you're angry he's still going barefoot.
Then again, no man sees his face and lives.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4gE7FaS7lkB44bqWkbJejw?utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz?utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1&utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25&utm_source=phplist5609&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Dylan%27s+Nobel
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)