Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2eLXTeL?utm_source=phplist5634&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Nothin%27+But+The+Truth
YouTube: http://bit.ly/2fFHo5T?utm_source=phplist5634&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Nothin%27+But+The+Truth
There's no room for white men in the Democratic Party, hardworking individuals who believe they're doing the right thing and just want to feed their families, and drink a little beer...
That's what Van Jones said on the David Axelrod podcast.
I'll be honest, it's been too surreal. Like we're living in a sci-fi/horror movie, but when the monster comes on nobody laughs and the lights never go up, and you start to realize half of the audience is with you and half is against, and the half that's against, they want their pound of flesh.
That's right, it's a "Merchant Of Venice" reference, hopefully they still teach Shakespeare in high school, although I skipped the bard in college because the egotist blowhard teaching the subject rubbed me the wrong way, I couldn't imagine spending a whole semester with him.
And many people can't imagine spending four more years with a Democrat.
That's another thing Van Jones said in that podcast, that when he left Tennessee for Yale Law School the students in New Haven made fun of him, even the African-Americans, he didn't know the words, he wasn't as well read, he didn't go to Stanford, never mind Andover, he was behind the curve. Jones decided to beat these wankers at their own game, by reading, which is what put these people ahead of him in the first place. And I experienced that firsthand, at Middlebury, I thought the guy pronouncing Celtic with a "K" was an uneducated nitwit, but it was I who was uninformed, I went to a college composed of 45% prep school graduates, taught me a thing or two, which most people never learn. That was the advantage of going to Middlebury, seeing how the other half lived. Most people never see how the other half lives. And the other half... In their NPR holier-than-thou attitude they become hatable, and are rejected.
Van Jones said that too. Very gently. I'm histrionic, he's calm. And when he talked about fathers...
My mind was blown. You see you can't be a man anymore, they don't need men, and of course I'm overstating, but the truth is there's no discussion of rape, not amongst reasonable people, it's a third rail topic, taboo, and someone accused is guilty, in some cases even if proven innocent. And I don't mean women aren't taken advantage of, I'm not saying that when they come forth their lives aren't ruined, all I'm saying is if you're a man, you can shut up...
Or vote for Donald Trump.
There, I said it.
I don't want to hear any more about the popular vote, or the lack of turnout. Donald Trump won, fair and square. By the rules as written. Try to change them if you want, but we couldn't even pass the Equal Rights Amendment, good luck.
So, if we want change, we have to start with ourselves. We have to cast aside our own prejudices, be more accepting, let others into the tent, otherwise the Democratic Party is doomed. It can't win with only the intelligentsia and the Latinos and African-Americans, Trump just proved that.
Not that I'm not scared, I'm scared plenty.
Did you see that story in the "New York Times," about an increase in hate activity on campus since the election, brazen actions? Is it trumped up or real, who knows, because the truth is I can no longer trust the "Times," not because the right wing denigrated it, but because it got it so wrong, and is so old school, believing the institution is more important than its employees. No, we live in a world of stars, and they keep leaving the "Times," because there's no room for them to stretch out and be them, whether it be Nate Silver or Frank Rich. All we've got left is faceless workers beholden to the Gray Lady, and that just sucks.
But the point is, we're all Jews now, we're all African-Americans.
Anti-Semitism?
Can I tell you about the time they spray-painted "Jew" and a Star of David on my garage? How did they know? I'd only been living in my abode briefly and hadn't interacted with anybody!
Be very afraid.
That's Tavis Smiley's point, that we're all African-Americans now, who've been enduring hatred and discrimination from time immemorial, now we know what it feels like. And we know you can never give up on fighting back.
But right now I'm reeling.
I certainly can't believe in media institutions, it wasn't only the "Times" that got it wrong, it's like everybody ignored an entire swath of Americans. Not all Trump voters are bad people, but when they're constantly told they are, when they keep ceding economic territory as the elites fight over microaggressions, they dig their heels in in protest. It's kind of like rioters burning down their own neighborhoods. You might think it's stupid, but when you've got nothing and no one's paying attention you don't care. And after the Rodney King verdict rioters invaded Hollywood. Are we safe in America or not?
I'm worried about the Supreme Court.
But I don't think the average person even knows how it works. That the justices hold the legality of abortion in their own little hands, that they ride herd over voter laws and corporate donations and so much more. It's always the fine print that'll get you. But no one cares about the fine print anymore, but how could you, every time you download new software, which seemingly happens every day, you've got to agree to conditions that even a lawyer couldn't decipher, that take away all your rights and force you into arbitration.
So...
I'm not sure where I fit in anymore.
And I'm not the only one.
But one thing I know for sure is Mac McAnally's song "Nothin' But The Truth" has been playing in my head this week. Because of these lines:
"I was knockin' around in the grocery store, baby
On the night of the last election"
Songs hook us up to the universe, they not only build culture, they give us something to grab on to. And it only matters if the song is important to us, no chart or sales action can convince us otherwise, it's an emotional response.
Mac McAnally was the new country hope. And with the launch of his eponymous label David Geffen decided to conquer all genres. He signed Mac. Mac's album failed.
It came out in 1983. I'm holding the vinyl in my hands right now. This was just before CDs, I've still got all my records, not for the fidelity so much as the history, this is my life, I bought each and every one, I know them all. It may be worthless information to you, but it's everything to me.
"We was flippin' the pages in the bookstore, baby
When I realized we hit the skids
I got a book about contraceptives
And you got a book about kids"
Differences, they can break up a relationship.
But if you stay with "Nothin' But The Truth" you find out that is not the case in this instance:
"We've been together for so long, baby
We both have had the urge to leave
With our little white lies and our look away eyes
It is ourselves that we deceive
We believe that we might have done better
But we both know we could've done a lot worse
Were stayin' right here
And it's nothin' but the truth we curse"
We ain't moving to Canada. Where it's pretty good, in many ways better than the U.S.A., I go all the time, some of my best friends are from the Great White North.
But we were born here. Or we immigrated here. And we live here. This is our land, from California to the New York island.
That's right, that's a song, one both the left and the right know. From an era where our music brought us together as opposed to tearing us apart.
I love that Katy Perry stumped for Hillary, but I come up empty when I look for the message in her music, other than girl power, what is it?
And Beyonce... She's taking a stand, but it's so wrapped up in costumes and production, the penumbra, that the light has a hard time shining through. Once upon a time the music was enough, can it be that way again?
And as far as the great white hope Bruce Springsteen... He's 67. He hasn't had a hit in years. And I'm gonna go on record and say that his bio is damn near unreadable. Sure, he wrote it himself, but just because you're a great songwriter that does not mean you're a great book writer. But we keep hearing the same press that said Hillary couldn't lose tell us that Springsteen's book is a classic, even though I haven't heard it brought up in conversation since the initial hype died down. That's how it is today, they hype it and we forget it, it's not important to us at all.
But Bruce Springsteen was important once.
We just need new artists to be important today.
And we need leaders, who watch the parking meters.
Artists are just signposts, vessels, they can point the way, but we need others to rise to the challenge, to do the work.
Say what you want about his policies, but one thing's for sure, Bernie Sanders is a rock star, that's his appeal.
And so is Donald Trump.
You might despise him, like Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas, or Ted Nugent, but the point is...they appeal to somebody, that's how they got their fame, that's how they got their celebrity.
The biggest star in the Democratic Party is Elizabeth Warren. Did you see her on Rachel Maddow last night? She was inspiring. Because she speaks the truth and fights back.
We need people to fight back, not just tell us how much better than us they are.
But that's the America we live in, where the winners believe they're entitled to their success, that the little people had nothing to do with it, that they didn't purchase their wares, and the purveyors know better.
Let me tell you, you don't need to go to Harvard to know which way the wind blows.
But it helps.
But the goal is not to get too big for your britches, not to forget where you came from, that's what Van Jones's dad told him, a man who was brought up in poverty and eventually became a school principal.
Live long enough and you'll discover we're all equal. Just because you had rich parents and went to a good school that does not mean your kids won't get addicted to dope, your spouse won't leave you, you won't get cancer and you won't go bankrupt. Bad stuff happens. And you've got to have compassion for others.
True, right now the right wing has no compassion for us.
But, we dug in our heels and lost.
Now it's time to try a different tack.
Now it's time to touch people's souls.
With nothin' but the truth.
Ep. 95 - Van Jones - The Axe Files with David Axelrod: http://cnn.it/2eR5eg9?utm_source=phplist5634&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Nothin%27+But+The+Truth
"Tavis Smiley: Donald Trump Must Be Held Accountable": http://bloom.bg/2flatoU?utm_source=phplist5634&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Nothin%27+But+The+Truth
"Campuses Confront Hostile Acts Against Minorities After Donald Trump's Election": http://nyti.ms/2eNDGIH?utm_source=phplist5634&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Nothin%27+But+The+Truth
"Senator Warren: 'We stand up and we fight back'": http://on.msnbc.com/2fBE8bT?utm_source=phplist5634&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Nothin%27+But+The+Truth
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Friday, 11 November 2016
Re-Leonard Cohen
I read your piece on Leonard Cohen with an acute sense of loss. It has been a Blondie tradition to honor musician/writers by playing one of their songs in our shows when they pass. A few years ago around the time of Natural Born Killers, we did Leonard's song "Waiting for the Miracle" and now sadly I will look forward to playing it again when we put our next tour together. What a week indeed...........Deborah Harry
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I am so sorry to hear about Leonard Cohen. He was a great guy. I played mandolin on "So Long, Marianne" and Bass on "Teachers". David Lindley, Chester Crill and Solomon Feldhouse, from our band Kaleidoscope, were on "Songs of Leonard Cohen" as well. He came to see us when we were playing at the at the Scene in NY, co-billed with Nico, and asked us to play on that album.
The last time I saw him was in my town of Claremont when he was living in Mt. Baldy at the Zen Center. His head was shaved, he was drinking espresso and smoking a cig! I said "hi" and in our conversation he said, "You guys saved my album". There were no credits on that record, so a lot of people didn't realize who played on it.
One of a Kind!
Chris Darrow
_________________________________________
This from Leonard to me October 21 2016.
dear Steven, thank you for your wonderful letter, and please forgive the brevity of mine, it's a little tricky to write these days
yes, we have been on the same path for a long time, and I too wish you the courage and the stamina to continue this difficult course
I wish you success, great success on the coming senatorial race, but I know you will keep on going whatever the outcome
Love and blessings,
Your old comrade,
Leonard
We handled him for 20 years. When dad died Leonard left with the secretary.
He and I made up. I loved him. Knew him like very few could.
Steven Machat
_________________________________________
First of all, thank you for the wonderful tribute to Leonard Cohen....however, and not to take one ounce of credit away from his extraordinary talent, but to underscore how impossible it is to do it all on your own......Leonard's beginnings and resulting career was also a tribute to his life long friend, confidant and attorney, Marty Machat, who along with his very capable son and law partner, Steven, directed, protected and shepherded his career throughout Marty's life !
He and Marty are now together !
Peace,
Stephen-Craig Aristei
_________________________________________
Have you seen the footage of KD singing Hallelujah when LC was inducted I to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame?
https://youtu.be/YYiMJ2bC65A?utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
And I'm sure you have heard about the letter he wrote to Marianne upon hearing she was in her last days:
https://www.google.ca/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/leonard-cohen-predicted-death-moving-9237657.amp?client=ms-android-rogers-ca&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
I like to think he's gone to join Marianne.
I've been listening to versions of Hallelujah and had completely forgotten about Buckley.
Will listen (and cry again) when I get home.
Barbara Sedun
_________________________________________
Don Henley once said that Leonard had a profound impact on his approach to writing lyrics. I think he was referencing a non poetry non fiction work (maybe it was an essay).
Michael McCarty
_________________________________________
Ah, the first of the grand and painful end-of-the-year deaths. He wins for "And all I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you," but John Cale gets credit for sorting through 18+ pages of Cohen's faxed verses of "Hallelujah" and creating the crystalline arrangement he recorded and Jeff Buckley totally copped to using. Au revoir, Leonard.
Margaret Moser
Austin Chronicle
_________________________________________
in 1988 with " i'm your man " he put the sex into electronic music with wit and verve and he still turned corners with his songs. goodbye baby & amen with thanks for all you gave us in that exampled, dignified , laconic way.
best, o
Andrew Loog Oldham
_________________________________________
I discovered Cohen in college, in the 80's with I'm Your Man, and worked backwards... I love that Jennifer Warnes album, it came out when I was a college DJ and got lots of airplay on my shows. One of my favorite covers of Cohen is from the little-known new folk act Washington Squares, this clip isn't the greatest sound quality but it's what I could find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFGDOqj44nk&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Kevin Oliver
_________________________________________
He resonated with so many people across the world. His writing was second to none and we Canadians have lost an icon.
Chris Chapin
_________________________________________
Thanks for the reminder on the Henley "Everybody Knows"
Leonard wrote many great songs but there are a handful that enter that area that very few can touch
All the best
Jim McElwee
_________________________________________
Thank you for this. A great artist. A great life.
Morley Walker
_________________________________________
There's also this version of "Everybody Knows" from Concrete Blonde, the first version that I heard. It was on the soundtrack for the 1990 Christian Slater vehicle Pump Up The Volume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Fb4K8pNmg&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Mike Daley (and many more)
_________________________________________
It was the opening theme to the Generation X classic movie "Pump Up the Volume"
Dennis Joyce (and many more)
_________________________________________
My favorite Leonard Cohen cover is Jackson Browne's version of A Thousand Kisses Deep.
Russ Paris
_________________________________________
For me it's John Cale's "Hallelujah" (the version that Buckley lifted), and Concrete Blonde's "Everybody Knows."
Gonna miss him.
Hugh Brown
_________________________________________
Check out Tom Robbins' liner notes to the 1995 compilation "Tower
of Song," it's a masterpiece. If writing about music is like singing
about architecture, this is an opera to the Parthenon—
https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/robbins.html?utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Armak
_________________________________________
A lovely homage to Leonard.
I'm a native Montrealer now living in Toronto. I grew up with Leonard's music, books and poetry. I did an English Lit degree at Loyola in Montreal. My Canadian Lit Prof and I shared a passion for Leonard's work.
He was an integral part of my musical experience in the 70s. Songs like Suzanne and So Long Marianne can transport me back in seconds. His gift is magical and yet very real. When I listen to or read his work, I am in the presence of genius. And like the great poets, he gives me a glimpse of the infinite, the divine. Leonard was a great poet. The real deal.
My love, Jojo and I have seen him perform three times. The first time at Toronto's Massey Hall, there was a palpable surge / jolt of energy when Leonard walked out on stage. I have never before or since experienced anything like it. And to this day, that concert remains the most intense and magical concert experience I have ever had, bar none.
Thank you for your piece on Leonard. It means a lot to a fellow Montrealer, a major admirer and fan. And thank you, Leonard!
Best Regards
Bob Bisnett
_________________________________________
Great tribute to Leonard Cohen. I've been listening to his music a lot over the last two - three years. While I love Hallelujah and Everybody Knows, including Buckley's and Henley's versions, my favorite is Who By Fire. Many versions and videos out there but try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2T274bXIxU&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen Damn, this has been a tough year.
Regards,
Greg Wilson
_________________________________________
I'm a huge Ken Nordine fan, and I was searching for him on YouTube one night, and I came across an appearance on Night Music, hosted by David Sanborne and Jools Holland (remember that show?). Other guests were Sonny Rollins, Was Not Was, and Leonard Cohen.
The closing song at the end of the show was "Who by Fire," with Cohen, backed by members of Was Not Was and three solos by Sonny Rollins (!!), and it blew me back in my chair. Here's the link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCaD6GAQmjA&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Dave Wood
_________________________________________
gonna miss this man.
I was in a band a few years ago, just something to get our minds off work and everything else once a week, and jam good tunes.
we named ourselves Who By Fire
Shaun Booysen
_________________________________________
We will all miss Lenny. I happened upon him in the early 70s when Nanette taught me guitar using an LC song Book with Bird in the Wire as my first ever strum.
Fast forward 35 or 40 years later when he had to tour and what a blessing for us!
His live performances demonstrated his genius and human kindness and Gentleness.
I saw his live show twice. The first in columbus Ohio and second at radio city. The columbus show was so very intimate and we sang all the songs along with him and stood and swayed and clapped and cheered the entire evening. He was much loved and he felt it and talked to the audience a lot.
The highlight was the Marianne penultimate encore and everyone sang with him loudly and proudly
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4UzSImogK_E&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Then a month or so later I took my much mystified son Chris to see him at radio city in $700 seats closeup. Just before Lenny came on stage and after the lights went down there was a commotion and the two empty seats in the first row center in front of us were suddenly filled by John Bon Jovi and his wife. The performance soon began with my son more interested. It was a great show on a bigger stage than columbus but there was less audience community in such a big arena. However again near the show end Lenny came Skipping out to sing Marianne
But this time the crowd sensing something special rose as one as lenny started singing the well known opening. And we sang along -- all of us and that meant Bon Jovi as well. I put my heart into it and so did my once reluctant son Chris And darned if John didn't turn around And gave us both a big happy smile as he sang and we sang and our voices joined as one.
Chris to this day tells his friends that story of Lenny and John and his dad at radio city
That's the kind of magic Lenny gave to so many people
Rick Vogt
_________________________________________
Rest In Peace Mr Cohen as you were at peace with your life. Your mark has been made and the legend is now laid to rest amongst the others who forever will light our ways when we are lost.
Neville Kaye
_________________________________________
My main immersion to Cohen was on the soundtrack of "McCabe and Mrs. Miller". It was such an expansive time with Cohen, Altman, Julie Christie, and Warren Beatty doing an amazing collaboration on an amazing movie. Pauline Kael became part of the heady creativity by writing about the movie in The New Yorker and saying that she could never date anyone who didn't love it. Of course, I had to buy "Songs of Leonard Cohen" which I played a lot.
I saw Cohen at the Boston Symphony Hall and he was backed by Perla Batalla and Julie Christenson. I didn't know them at the time but when I moved to Ojai they became good customers of my old store, Ojai Creates! Julie Christie would occasionally come in to develop film and I sold many copies of the movie "I'm Your Man", which was all Leonard Cohen songs.
"Suzanne" was a partial soundtrack for my relationship with a wild artist girlfriend. "That's No Way to Say Good Bye" is still a nostalgic soundtrack for a beautiful girlfriend who left me many years ago.
I'm really glad that I got to see Leonard live when he was in his prime. Tonight the Ojai Film Festival showed a film about Robert Blye who I also saw live in Ojai. He is nearing his end but was one of the greats; a rock star of poetry. John Densemore showed up to play drums and answer questions. He was in the movie and the soundtrack. During the Q&A he announced the passing of Cohen, which shocked me and the audience.
There have been so many musicians and artists that have touched me and helped me to expand. Thank you for reminding me!
Peace,
John Azevedo
_________________________________________
Great obituary Bob. Bearing in mind his considerable non-musical achievements, including two well reviewed novels, it's a pity he didn't get the Nobel before going.
Paul Nash
_________________________________________
Perfect. Thank you. I hope you've read Sylvie Simmons bio of the man. If not, I recommend it.
Greg Conniff
_________________________________________
Thanks Bob. Cohen had the artistic ability to cut through all the noise and get right to the point. His songs often made Top 40 radio in Canada, including "Suzanne". My favorite moment was when he won a Juno award to which he responded "only in Canada could a man like me win Male vocalist of the year". Classic!
Regards, John Corcelli
_________________________________________
What about Dance Me To The End of Love? Transformative.
Susan Nadler
_________________________________________
Hey Bob. Try "everybody knows" by The Duhks. Infectious.
Big loss, thanks for covering it. How could you not?
Tom Scharf
_________________________________________
Wasn't sure if you've heard this - but a really beautiful connection these two were having during this interview IMO.
http://www.npr.org/2016/10/21/498810429/leonard-cohen-on-poetry-music-and-why-he-left-the-zen-monastery?utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
_________________________________________
Thanks for this article. I cried this morning when I heard the news. As a Canadian, he made me feel patriotic. His lyrics are a high watermark for our young poets. He was our Dylan, a bit of an alternative to Young and he was cool, man.
I'm grateful that he resurrected his career (even if it was for an unfortunate reason) and that I was able to see him croak out all my favourite tunes.
I wasn't alive when he was a young, current artist, but his lyrics are timeless and I was drawn to his music at an early age. I'm sad, but I'm grateful.
Sincerely,
Joe Sgro
_________________________________________
What a huge loss, and what a time for him to leave us. He's needed more than ever right now.
Jason Consoli
_________________________________________
I bridged the generational divide with Leonard, also. It was the aural match of lyric and sound: "Avalanche" off "Songs of Love and Hate"...I grabbed my Mom from her dishes...she had to hear it! Cohen wasn't just his poetry and lyrics...he created a soundscapes of atmosphere, mood and tone...even if you were in some suburban backwater, when you listened to him you were transported to Greewich Village..to a smoky cafe...with a sophisticated, spiritual, artistic community...he was that good. You could put him on to set a mood in much the same way as you would "Electric Ladyland.
Brian Colleary
_________________________________________
Losing Leonard Cohen is a big one. I had the honor and the pleasure of working with him at Columbia Records off and on for many years. I was so taken by his art that I used to carry a big blue book of poems he had written and every day I would just flip the pages at random and pick one to read.
Leonard was very deep to be sure, but every once in while you'd get a little smile out of him. In 1979 we took a small road trip to do some interviews at radio promoting his latest album "Field Commander Cohen." I was calling him Field Commander and he seemed to get a kick out of that. On another occasion out of nowhere he seemed to confide in me for a moment. He looked at me and said, "You know, I have the worst luck with women. But, it makes for great songs!" And he gave me wink.
In the early 1990's my department developed a live radio series that ran for many years called The Columbia Records Radio Hour. It started as a singer songwriter show on Sunday mornings live from Sony Music Studios via satellite and aired on over 100 stations. We featured both new and established artists and put together many great collaborations. On occasion we'd be blessed to have someone like Bruce Springsteen or Leonard do the show. For artists of this caliber we'd often travel to a location where they were on tour or rehearsing for one. The Radio Hour aired live from 11:00AM to 12:00PM noon Eastern time. Leonard said he wanted to do the show at great recording studio in Los Angeles called The Complex. I said that would be great, but the radio audience expected the show to run at 11:00AM East Coast time and that would mean that he and his band would have to perform at 8:00AM in the morning! I'm thinking Leonard is a late night coffee house type guy, and he surprised the hell out of me when he said, "I'm a Buddhist, I get up every day at sunrise and chant, don't worry we'll be there and we'll be great." Sure enough, Leonard and a very big band with back up singers and the whole nine yards showed up at 7:00AM to get warmed up and prepare. Our small studio audience showed at 7:30 and we gave everyone bagels, orange juice an coffee. The show started exactly on time and that band and Leonard were on fire—you would have thought it was 8:00PM at the Bottom Line in New York City! What a pro!
That reminds me of another good story that a friend who is an old Columbia colleague told me. Leonard had been working with a new artist, Anjani. He wanted to help as much as he could not only creatively but also promoting her. He took a meeting with the head of Starbucks at the time to see if he could get Anjani's album in their stores. So he goes down there all dressed up with a suit and tie, briefcase, etc.. and the head of Starbucks begins to tell Leonard what kind of music they like to have playing in their stores. The guy says, "You know, in our coffee houses…" Leonard stops him dead in his tracks, looks up and says, "What?? These aren't coffee houses!!" Ha, ha, ha. You gotta love it.
Lastly, I was once doing a radio special with Leonard and had a writer interview him for the show. The album Columbia Records was promoting at the time ended with a live track that was an out-take from a particular recording session. I thought it was actually pretty cool and was featured as a "bonus" track. So I'm listening back to this interview and Leonard is complaining about the fact the label had kind of talked him into adding this track to the album. "It's an 'out-take,' he said, "that means I consciously chose NOT to put it on an album…not up to my standard. So why do they think it's all-of-a sudden better now???"
What a fantastic and precious artist. Most of you probably know Leonard's music quite well. I urge you to pick up some of his poetry. Leonard was, and is a very deep and beautiful soul and you will be moved in magical ways by experiencing it.
Paul Rappaport
_________________________________________
I've always been an admirer of Leonard Cohen's. He was a muse
for me and so many of my friends who wrote words upon words trying
to make sense of life and change in the 60's and 70's, and beyond.
He was like the quiet learned man in the family who knew the answers,
or at least was trying to find them. And his answers always came from
the heart.
He will be so deeply missed.
Your tribute is beautiful and full.
Thanks so much.
S Janger
_________________________________________
I will never delete this post. I will return to it for the rest of my
life. Thank you.
James J Spina
_________________________________________
I am so sorry to hear about Leonard Cohen. He was a great guy. I played mandolin on "So Long, Marianne" and Bass on "Teachers". David Lindley, Chester Crill and Solomon Feldhouse, from our band Kaleidoscope, were on "Songs of Leonard Cohen" as well. He came to see us when we were playing at the at the Scene in NY, co-billed with Nico, and asked us to play on that album.
The last time I saw him was in my town of Claremont when he was living in Mt. Baldy at the Zen Center. His head was shaved, he was drinking espresso and smoking a cig! I said "hi" and in our conversation he said, "You guys saved my album". There were no credits on that record, so a lot of people didn't realize who played on it.
One of a Kind!
Chris Darrow
_________________________________________
This from Leonard to me October 21 2016.
dear Steven, thank you for your wonderful letter, and please forgive the brevity of mine, it's a little tricky to write these days
yes, we have been on the same path for a long time, and I too wish you the courage and the stamina to continue this difficult course
I wish you success, great success on the coming senatorial race, but I know you will keep on going whatever the outcome
Love and blessings,
Your old comrade,
Leonard
We handled him for 20 years. When dad died Leonard left with the secretary.
He and I made up. I loved him. Knew him like very few could.
Steven Machat
_________________________________________
First of all, thank you for the wonderful tribute to Leonard Cohen....however, and not to take one ounce of credit away from his extraordinary talent, but to underscore how impossible it is to do it all on your own......Leonard's beginnings and resulting career was also a tribute to his life long friend, confidant and attorney, Marty Machat, who along with his very capable son and law partner, Steven, directed, protected and shepherded his career throughout Marty's life !
He and Marty are now together !
Peace,
Stephen-Craig Aristei
_________________________________________
Have you seen the footage of KD singing Hallelujah when LC was inducted I to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame?
https://youtu.be/YYiMJ2bC65A?utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
And I'm sure you have heard about the letter he wrote to Marianne upon hearing she was in her last days:
https://www.google.ca/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/leonard-cohen-predicted-death-moving-9237657.amp?client=ms-android-rogers-ca&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
I like to think he's gone to join Marianne.
I've been listening to versions of Hallelujah and had completely forgotten about Buckley.
Will listen (and cry again) when I get home.
Barbara Sedun
_________________________________________
Don Henley once said that Leonard had a profound impact on his approach to writing lyrics. I think he was referencing a non poetry non fiction work (maybe it was an essay).
Michael McCarty
_________________________________________
Ah, the first of the grand and painful end-of-the-year deaths. He wins for "And all I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you," but John Cale gets credit for sorting through 18+ pages of Cohen's faxed verses of "Hallelujah" and creating the crystalline arrangement he recorded and Jeff Buckley totally copped to using. Au revoir, Leonard.
Margaret Moser
Austin Chronicle
_________________________________________
in 1988 with " i'm your man " he put the sex into electronic music with wit and verve and he still turned corners with his songs. goodbye baby & amen with thanks for all you gave us in that exampled, dignified , laconic way.
best, o
Andrew Loog Oldham
_________________________________________
I discovered Cohen in college, in the 80's with I'm Your Man, and worked backwards... I love that Jennifer Warnes album, it came out when I was a college DJ and got lots of airplay on my shows. One of my favorite covers of Cohen is from the little-known new folk act Washington Squares, this clip isn't the greatest sound quality but it's what I could find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFGDOqj44nk&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Kevin Oliver
_________________________________________
He resonated with so many people across the world. His writing was second to none and we Canadians have lost an icon.
Chris Chapin
_________________________________________
Thanks for the reminder on the Henley "Everybody Knows"
Leonard wrote many great songs but there are a handful that enter that area that very few can touch
All the best
Jim McElwee
_________________________________________
Thank you for this. A great artist. A great life.
Morley Walker
_________________________________________
There's also this version of "Everybody Knows" from Concrete Blonde, the first version that I heard. It was on the soundtrack for the 1990 Christian Slater vehicle Pump Up The Volume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Fb4K8pNmg&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Mike Daley (and many more)
_________________________________________
It was the opening theme to the Generation X classic movie "Pump Up the Volume"
Dennis Joyce (and many more)
_________________________________________
My favorite Leonard Cohen cover is Jackson Browne's version of A Thousand Kisses Deep.
Russ Paris
_________________________________________
For me it's John Cale's "Hallelujah" (the version that Buckley lifted), and Concrete Blonde's "Everybody Knows."
Gonna miss him.
Hugh Brown
_________________________________________
Check out Tom Robbins' liner notes to the 1995 compilation "Tower
of Song," it's a masterpiece. If writing about music is like singing
about architecture, this is an opera to the Parthenon—
https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/robbins.html?utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Armak
_________________________________________
A lovely homage to Leonard.
I'm a native Montrealer now living in Toronto. I grew up with Leonard's music, books and poetry. I did an English Lit degree at Loyola in Montreal. My Canadian Lit Prof and I shared a passion for Leonard's work.
He was an integral part of my musical experience in the 70s. Songs like Suzanne and So Long Marianne can transport me back in seconds. His gift is magical and yet very real. When I listen to or read his work, I am in the presence of genius. And like the great poets, he gives me a glimpse of the infinite, the divine. Leonard was a great poet. The real deal.
My love, Jojo and I have seen him perform three times. The first time at Toronto's Massey Hall, there was a palpable surge / jolt of energy when Leonard walked out on stage. I have never before or since experienced anything like it. And to this day, that concert remains the most intense and magical concert experience I have ever had, bar none.
Thank you for your piece on Leonard. It means a lot to a fellow Montrealer, a major admirer and fan. And thank you, Leonard!
Best Regards
Bob Bisnett
_________________________________________
Great tribute to Leonard Cohen. I've been listening to his music a lot over the last two - three years. While I love Hallelujah and Everybody Knows, including Buckley's and Henley's versions, my favorite is Who By Fire. Many versions and videos out there but try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2T274bXIxU&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen Damn, this has been a tough year.
Regards,
Greg Wilson
_________________________________________
I'm a huge Ken Nordine fan, and I was searching for him on YouTube one night, and I came across an appearance on Night Music, hosted by David Sanborne and Jools Holland (remember that show?). Other guests were Sonny Rollins, Was Not Was, and Leonard Cohen.
The closing song at the end of the show was "Who by Fire," with Cohen, backed by members of Was Not Was and three solos by Sonny Rollins (!!), and it blew me back in my chair. Here's the link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCaD6GAQmjA&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Dave Wood
_________________________________________
gonna miss this man.
I was in a band a few years ago, just something to get our minds off work and everything else once a week, and jam good tunes.
we named ourselves Who By Fire
Shaun Booysen
_________________________________________
We will all miss Lenny. I happened upon him in the early 70s when Nanette taught me guitar using an LC song Book with Bird in the Wire as my first ever strum.
Fast forward 35 or 40 years later when he had to tour and what a blessing for us!
His live performances demonstrated his genius and human kindness and Gentleness.
I saw his live show twice. The first in columbus Ohio and second at radio city. The columbus show was so very intimate and we sang all the songs along with him and stood and swayed and clapped and cheered the entire evening. He was much loved and he felt it and talked to the audience a lot.
The highlight was the Marianne penultimate encore and everyone sang with him loudly and proudly
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4UzSImogK_E&utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
Then a month or so later I took my much mystified son Chris to see him at radio city in $700 seats closeup. Just before Lenny came on stage and after the lights went down there was a commotion and the two empty seats in the first row center in front of us were suddenly filled by John Bon Jovi and his wife. The performance soon began with my son more interested. It was a great show on a bigger stage than columbus but there was less audience community in such a big arena. However again near the show end Lenny came Skipping out to sing Marianne
But this time the crowd sensing something special rose as one as lenny started singing the well known opening. And we sang along -- all of us and that meant Bon Jovi as well. I put my heart into it and so did my once reluctant son Chris And darned if John didn't turn around And gave us both a big happy smile as he sang and we sang and our voices joined as one.
Chris to this day tells his friends that story of Lenny and John and his dad at radio city
That's the kind of magic Lenny gave to so many people
Rick Vogt
_________________________________________
Rest In Peace Mr Cohen as you were at peace with your life. Your mark has been made and the legend is now laid to rest amongst the others who forever will light our ways when we are lost.
Neville Kaye
_________________________________________
My main immersion to Cohen was on the soundtrack of "McCabe and Mrs. Miller". It was such an expansive time with Cohen, Altman, Julie Christie, and Warren Beatty doing an amazing collaboration on an amazing movie. Pauline Kael became part of the heady creativity by writing about the movie in The New Yorker and saying that she could never date anyone who didn't love it. Of course, I had to buy "Songs of Leonard Cohen" which I played a lot.
I saw Cohen at the Boston Symphony Hall and he was backed by Perla Batalla and Julie Christenson. I didn't know them at the time but when I moved to Ojai they became good customers of my old store, Ojai Creates! Julie Christie would occasionally come in to develop film and I sold many copies of the movie "I'm Your Man", which was all Leonard Cohen songs.
"Suzanne" was a partial soundtrack for my relationship with a wild artist girlfriend. "That's No Way to Say Good Bye" is still a nostalgic soundtrack for a beautiful girlfriend who left me many years ago.
I'm really glad that I got to see Leonard live when he was in his prime. Tonight the Ojai Film Festival showed a film about Robert Blye who I also saw live in Ojai. He is nearing his end but was one of the greats; a rock star of poetry. John Densemore showed up to play drums and answer questions. He was in the movie and the soundtrack. During the Q&A he announced the passing of Cohen, which shocked me and the audience.
There have been so many musicians and artists that have touched me and helped me to expand. Thank you for reminding me!
Peace,
John Azevedo
_________________________________________
Great obituary Bob. Bearing in mind his considerable non-musical achievements, including two well reviewed novels, it's a pity he didn't get the Nobel before going.
Paul Nash
_________________________________________
Perfect. Thank you. I hope you've read Sylvie Simmons bio of the man. If not, I recommend it.
Greg Conniff
_________________________________________
Thanks Bob. Cohen had the artistic ability to cut through all the noise and get right to the point. His songs often made Top 40 radio in Canada, including "Suzanne". My favorite moment was when he won a Juno award to which he responded "only in Canada could a man like me win Male vocalist of the year". Classic!
Regards, John Corcelli
_________________________________________
What about Dance Me To The End of Love? Transformative.
Susan Nadler
_________________________________________
Hey Bob. Try "everybody knows" by The Duhks. Infectious.
Big loss, thanks for covering it. How could you not?
Tom Scharf
_________________________________________
Wasn't sure if you've heard this - but a really beautiful connection these two were having during this interview IMO.
http://www.npr.org/2016/10/21/498810429/leonard-cohen-on-poetry-music-and-why-he-left-the-zen-monastery?utm_source=phplist5633&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Re-Leonard+Cohen
_________________________________________
Thanks for this article. I cried this morning when I heard the news. As a Canadian, he made me feel patriotic. His lyrics are a high watermark for our young poets. He was our Dylan, a bit of an alternative to Young and he was cool, man.
I'm grateful that he resurrected his career (even if it was for an unfortunate reason) and that I was able to see him croak out all my favourite tunes.
I wasn't alive when he was a young, current artist, but his lyrics are timeless and I was drawn to his music at an early age. I'm sad, but I'm grateful.
Sincerely,
Joe Sgro
_________________________________________
What a huge loss, and what a time for him to leave us. He's needed more than ever right now.
Jason Consoli
_________________________________________
I bridged the generational divide with Leonard, also. It was the aural match of lyric and sound: "Avalanche" off "Songs of Love and Hate"...I grabbed my Mom from her dishes...she had to hear it! Cohen wasn't just his poetry and lyrics...he created a soundscapes of atmosphere, mood and tone...even if you were in some suburban backwater, when you listened to him you were transported to Greewich Village..to a smoky cafe...with a sophisticated, spiritual, artistic community...he was that good. You could put him on to set a mood in much the same way as you would "Electric Ladyland.
Brian Colleary
_________________________________________
Losing Leonard Cohen is a big one. I had the honor and the pleasure of working with him at Columbia Records off and on for many years. I was so taken by his art that I used to carry a big blue book of poems he had written and every day I would just flip the pages at random and pick one to read.
Leonard was very deep to be sure, but every once in while you'd get a little smile out of him. In 1979 we took a small road trip to do some interviews at radio promoting his latest album "Field Commander Cohen." I was calling him Field Commander and he seemed to get a kick out of that. On another occasion out of nowhere he seemed to confide in me for a moment. He looked at me and said, "You know, I have the worst luck with women. But, it makes for great songs!" And he gave me wink.
In the early 1990's my department developed a live radio series that ran for many years called The Columbia Records Radio Hour. It started as a singer songwriter show on Sunday mornings live from Sony Music Studios via satellite and aired on over 100 stations. We featured both new and established artists and put together many great collaborations. On occasion we'd be blessed to have someone like Bruce Springsteen or Leonard do the show. For artists of this caliber we'd often travel to a location where they were on tour or rehearsing for one. The Radio Hour aired live from 11:00AM to 12:00PM noon Eastern time. Leonard said he wanted to do the show at great recording studio in Los Angeles called The Complex. I said that would be great, but the radio audience expected the show to run at 11:00AM East Coast time and that would mean that he and his band would have to perform at 8:00AM in the morning! I'm thinking Leonard is a late night coffee house type guy, and he surprised the hell out of me when he said, "I'm a Buddhist, I get up every day at sunrise and chant, don't worry we'll be there and we'll be great." Sure enough, Leonard and a very big band with back up singers and the whole nine yards showed up at 7:00AM to get warmed up and prepare. Our small studio audience showed at 7:30 and we gave everyone bagels, orange juice an coffee. The show started exactly on time and that band and Leonard were on fire—you would have thought it was 8:00PM at the Bottom Line in New York City! What a pro!
That reminds me of another good story that a friend who is an old Columbia colleague told me. Leonard had been working with a new artist, Anjani. He wanted to help as much as he could not only creatively but also promoting her. He took a meeting with the head of Starbucks at the time to see if he could get Anjani's album in their stores. So he goes down there all dressed up with a suit and tie, briefcase, etc.. and the head of Starbucks begins to tell Leonard what kind of music they like to have playing in their stores. The guy says, "You know, in our coffee houses…" Leonard stops him dead in his tracks, looks up and says, "What?? These aren't coffee houses!!" Ha, ha, ha. You gotta love it.
Lastly, I was once doing a radio special with Leonard and had a writer interview him for the show. The album Columbia Records was promoting at the time ended with a live track that was an out-take from a particular recording session. I thought it was actually pretty cool and was featured as a "bonus" track. So I'm listening back to this interview and Leonard is complaining about the fact the label had kind of talked him into adding this track to the album. "It's an 'out-take,' he said, "that means I consciously chose NOT to put it on an album…not up to my standard. So why do they think it's all-of-a sudden better now???"
What a fantastic and precious artist. Most of you probably know Leonard's music quite well. I urge you to pick up some of his poetry. Leonard was, and is a very deep and beautiful soul and you will be moved in magical ways by experiencing it.
Paul Rappaport
_________________________________________
I've always been an admirer of Leonard Cohen's. He was a muse
for me and so many of my friends who wrote words upon words trying
to make sense of life and change in the 60's and 70's, and beyond.
He was like the quiet learned man in the family who knew the answers,
or at least was trying to find them. And his answers always came from
the heart.
He will be so deeply missed.
Your tribute is beautiful and full.
Thanks so much.
S Janger
_________________________________________
I will never delete this post. I will return to it for the rest of my
life. Thank you.
James J Spina
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Thursday, 10 November 2016
Leonard Cohen
http://spoti.fi/2g201nK?utm_source=phplist5632&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Leonard+Cohen
A great song can be sung by anybody. And even though two covers of Leonard's work are legendary, Judy Collins's "Suzanne" and Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," it's Don Henley's cover of "Everybody Knows" that sticks with me, that I sing in my head again and again...remember when we could still sing songs?
"Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows"
Sound like our election?
I certainly think it does. I understand the poor feel screwed, that they've been left behind in the march to globalization and digitization, but I have a hard time seeing how cutting taxes on the rich will help them out. As for bringing back manufacturing to America...well, that's fine if you want to pay $2500 for a flat screen that's made by few people anyway, automation is king.
"Everybody Knows" originally appeared on Leonard Cohen's 1988 album "I'm Your Man," which had very little impact, because by this time the buzz was done. After the thrill is gone, after you're no longer the critics' darling, will you continue to compose? The greats do, Leonard Cohen did.
And seven years later, Don Henley included it on his greatest hits album, "Actual Miles," one of three new compositions included to implore completists to purchase the LP, back when that was still a thing, buying albums.
And now it's twenty one years later and most people have still not heard "Everybody Knows," but it's lying in wait, you will be slayed by its truth when you finally discover it. This is the antithesis of today's hit and run music, this is a time bomb, a land mine, waiting to go off when you stumble upon it, a great song is forever, never forget that.
My mother asked me about Leonard Cohen. Which was kind of surprising, because despite her being a culture vulture, I was the pop music king, this was before our parents were our friends, before oldsters turned their progeny on to the Beatles, when to be on the same page as your parents was a rare event.
And the first album made an impact, back when records didn't have to chart, didn't have to have a single, to do so.
You should probably start here, with 1968's "Songs of Leonard Cohen," produced by the unheralded John Simon who's been forgotten by the wankers inducting second-rate poseurs into the Hall of Fame while he midwifed some of the greatest albums in the modern canon.
And "Songs of Leonard Cohen" sounds like a Simon album, in that it's got a slickness, with strings, that most don't think of when they think of Leonard Cohen today, but it's a document, seared into my brain and the culture.
Its most famous song is the aforementioned "Suzanne," which cemented Judy Collins' career, made her a star, transformed her from a folkie into a pop princess. Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" ultimately put her over the top, but it was "Suzanne" that turned the tide, it was unlike today, there was not a baby boomer who hadn't heard it, despite it not being a hit single.
"Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever"
Notice the difference? This is unlike today's lyrics, which are all about status and accomplishment, "Suzanne" is about life, which is why Leonard Cohen's song resonated and still radiates, we're touched by humanity, flash comes and goes, real life sustains. And Leonard's version is even more subtle than Judy's, it's like there's a poet in the corner singing his song, quietly, to the point where you're intrigued and you want to get closer, you need to get closer.
"And just when you want to tell her that you have no love to give her
She gets you on her wavelength and lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover"
That's the power of people as opposed to corporations, they'll surprise you, you'll think they have no effect on you and then you can't live without them. And no recitation of the power of "Suzanne" can be complete without reference to the lyrics about touching her (and his!) perfect body with her mind. We're all seeking perfection, and we find it in the less than perfect, a conundrum that's part of the mystery of life.
And the two other songs that touched me from the debut, they all did, but the ones that immediately come to mind are "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye," my college roommate used to play that album again and again, and they were imprinted upon my mind. We now know who Marianne was, she recently passed, but back then it didn't matter, we created a picture in our own mind, the songs were for us. And we never disconnect from those we love, certainly not emotionally, we never really say goodbye, which is why these partings are always so awkward.
Suddenly, with the success of "Songs of Leonard Cohen" Leonard was no longer a poet from the Great White North, he was a member of the pop firmament, no one had previously crossed over, still, he inhabited his own space, he always existed in his own rarefied world.
The follow-up, 1969's "Songs From A Room" is most famous for its opening cut, "Bird on the Wire," which was famously covered by Joe Cocker on his second album, his best, as well as the live album "Mad Dogs & Englishmen," great songs were passed around, sung by everybody.
But Leonard Cohen's commercial impact was waning with each LP. The second and third were produced by Bob Johnston in accordance with Leonard's wishes, but the sounds were less accessible than the John Simon work, but each album had a standout track, on 1971's "Songs of Love and Hate" it was "Famous Blue Raincoat," which Jennifer Warnes made famous as the title track of her 1987 album, her artistic and commercial peak.
And then it was a journey into the wilderness, everybody knew Leonard's name, he got press, but few acquired albums that got no airplay and therefore had little cultural impact. More people remember that 1977's "Death of a Ladies' Man" was produced by Phil Spector than any of the songs. I bought it, it was a curio, kind of like the Ramones album "End of the Century" that Spector also produced, equally a mismatch.
1984's "Various Positions" included "Hallelujah," a modern day standard, but completely ignored upon its release.
And 1988's "I'm Your Man" included "First We Take Manhattan," as well as "Everybody Knows," the former the opening cut on that Jennifer Warnes album "Famous Blue Raincoat," featuring searing guitar work by the dearly departed Stevie Ray Vaughan. You see the public might not have been listening, but the artists were, back when being an artist was just that, you weren't in the hunt for corporate opportunities, you weren't a brand, but a malleable mass in search of experimentation and satiation as well as riches. Pushing the envelope was key, and the music spoke for you.
The music was speaking for Leonard Cohen. Because he wasn't speaking at all. He'd checked out, he'd gone up the road to Mt. Baldy, he'd joined a monastery.
There's this illusion that rock stars live that life 24/7, but the truth is people are paying attention for a very short time, especially in the pre-Internet era, if you weren't making hits and you weren't getting arrested it was like you didn't even exist. When I went to a birthday party in the Valley back in 2003 and Leonard was there he was just an old Jew in a hat, not someone who changed the tenor of the entire assemblage. He radiated a charisma, but he seemed self-contained, in his own bubble, you could lean in, but he was not leaning out, it was very different from the famous people who are looking for attention and adoration, it was like he knew something we did not, that the joke was on us, that money and fame were secondary to personal fulfillment, and that life was hard, and you did your best to soldier on.
And then Leonard Cohen lost all his money and went on the road and became an icon.
How weird is all this. If that woman hadn't stolen from him, he might never have played live again, gotten all that press, those accolades. Funny how life goes. You think you're in charge, but you're not.
Leonard got a victory lap nonpareil. He just released a new album that got rave reviews.
And today he died.
So what are we left with?
The songs. He's no longer here, but his work will live on, he's got a legacy.
And what is that legacy?
Someone who did it differently. Who was in search of pleasure, who experienced the pain. Leonard Cohen was a seeker. Whether it be that foray to Greece way back when or up the hill to the monastery, he was looking for answers.
And now he's revered for that.
Let that be a wake-up call. That despite all the emphasis on money, the constant social networking, life is really a mysterious adventure you go through alone, you've got to put one foot in front of the other, you've got to make choices, they're only your own. And those who are willing to buck the trends, who do it their way, are the ones we look up to.
He was a charming poet from Canada, not the scion of a studio head in Los Angeles.
He followed his muse, it led him to a recording contract and the fruits that ultimately bore.
But when I think of Leonard Cohen today, I think of someone who was sui generis, who was birthed in an era where who you were was more important than what you did. A man who realized that telling his own personal story was more important than playing the game, that ultimately it's not statistics we're drawn to, but truth.
And like I said, there's a lot of truth in "Everybody Knows."
"Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody's talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows"
We all know the truth, we're just afraid to speak it. That's what we depend upon artists for, that's why we're drawn to them.
I feel like my father or my dog just died. I've been at loose ends for forty eight hours.
And when you're in a spot like that, the only thing that resonates is music.
Leonard Cohen made music, and so much more.
He needed to express himself.
We needed to listen.
That's how it goes.
Everybody knows.
--
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A great song can be sung by anybody. And even though two covers of Leonard's work are legendary, Judy Collins's "Suzanne" and Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," it's Don Henley's cover of "Everybody Knows" that sticks with me, that I sing in my head again and again...remember when we could still sing songs?
"Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows"
Sound like our election?
I certainly think it does. I understand the poor feel screwed, that they've been left behind in the march to globalization and digitization, but I have a hard time seeing how cutting taxes on the rich will help them out. As for bringing back manufacturing to America...well, that's fine if you want to pay $2500 for a flat screen that's made by few people anyway, automation is king.
"Everybody Knows" originally appeared on Leonard Cohen's 1988 album "I'm Your Man," which had very little impact, because by this time the buzz was done. After the thrill is gone, after you're no longer the critics' darling, will you continue to compose? The greats do, Leonard Cohen did.
And seven years later, Don Henley included it on his greatest hits album, "Actual Miles," one of three new compositions included to implore completists to purchase the LP, back when that was still a thing, buying albums.
And now it's twenty one years later and most people have still not heard "Everybody Knows," but it's lying in wait, you will be slayed by its truth when you finally discover it. This is the antithesis of today's hit and run music, this is a time bomb, a land mine, waiting to go off when you stumble upon it, a great song is forever, never forget that.
My mother asked me about Leonard Cohen. Which was kind of surprising, because despite her being a culture vulture, I was the pop music king, this was before our parents were our friends, before oldsters turned their progeny on to the Beatles, when to be on the same page as your parents was a rare event.
And the first album made an impact, back when records didn't have to chart, didn't have to have a single, to do so.
You should probably start here, with 1968's "Songs of Leonard Cohen," produced by the unheralded John Simon who's been forgotten by the wankers inducting second-rate poseurs into the Hall of Fame while he midwifed some of the greatest albums in the modern canon.
And "Songs of Leonard Cohen" sounds like a Simon album, in that it's got a slickness, with strings, that most don't think of when they think of Leonard Cohen today, but it's a document, seared into my brain and the culture.
Its most famous song is the aforementioned "Suzanne," which cemented Judy Collins' career, made her a star, transformed her from a folkie into a pop princess. Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" ultimately put her over the top, but it was "Suzanne" that turned the tide, it was unlike today, there was not a baby boomer who hadn't heard it, despite it not being a hit single.
"Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever"
Notice the difference? This is unlike today's lyrics, which are all about status and accomplishment, "Suzanne" is about life, which is why Leonard Cohen's song resonated and still radiates, we're touched by humanity, flash comes and goes, real life sustains. And Leonard's version is even more subtle than Judy's, it's like there's a poet in the corner singing his song, quietly, to the point where you're intrigued and you want to get closer, you need to get closer.
"And just when you want to tell her that you have no love to give her
She gets you on her wavelength and lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover"
That's the power of people as opposed to corporations, they'll surprise you, you'll think they have no effect on you and then you can't live without them. And no recitation of the power of "Suzanne" can be complete without reference to the lyrics about touching her (and his!) perfect body with her mind. We're all seeking perfection, and we find it in the less than perfect, a conundrum that's part of the mystery of life.
And the two other songs that touched me from the debut, they all did, but the ones that immediately come to mind are "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye," my college roommate used to play that album again and again, and they were imprinted upon my mind. We now know who Marianne was, she recently passed, but back then it didn't matter, we created a picture in our own mind, the songs were for us. And we never disconnect from those we love, certainly not emotionally, we never really say goodbye, which is why these partings are always so awkward.
Suddenly, with the success of "Songs of Leonard Cohen" Leonard was no longer a poet from the Great White North, he was a member of the pop firmament, no one had previously crossed over, still, he inhabited his own space, he always existed in his own rarefied world.
The follow-up, 1969's "Songs From A Room" is most famous for its opening cut, "Bird on the Wire," which was famously covered by Joe Cocker on his second album, his best, as well as the live album "Mad Dogs & Englishmen," great songs were passed around, sung by everybody.
But Leonard Cohen's commercial impact was waning with each LP. The second and third were produced by Bob Johnston in accordance with Leonard's wishes, but the sounds were less accessible than the John Simon work, but each album had a standout track, on 1971's "Songs of Love and Hate" it was "Famous Blue Raincoat," which Jennifer Warnes made famous as the title track of her 1987 album, her artistic and commercial peak.
And then it was a journey into the wilderness, everybody knew Leonard's name, he got press, but few acquired albums that got no airplay and therefore had little cultural impact. More people remember that 1977's "Death of a Ladies' Man" was produced by Phil Spector than any of the songs. I bought it, it was a curio, kind of like the Ramones album "End of the Century" that Spector also produced, equally a mismatch.
1984's "Various Positions" included "Hallelujah," a modern day standard, but completely ignored upon its release.
And 1988's "I'm Your Man" included "First We Take Manhattan," as well as "Everybody Knows," the former the opening cut on that Jennifer Warnes album "Famous Blue Raincoat," featuring searing guitar work by the dearly departed Stevie Ray Vaughan. You see the public might not have been listening, but the artists were, back when being an artist was just that, you weren't in the hunt for corporate opportunities, you weren't a brand, but a malleable mass in search of experimentation and satiation as well as riches. Pushing the envelope was key, and the music spoke for you.
The music was speaking for Leonard Cohen. Because he wasn't speaking at all. He'd checked out, he'd gone up the road to Mt. Baldy, he'd joined a monastery.
There's this illusion that rock stars live that life 24/7, but the truth is people are paying attention for a very short time, especially in the pre-Internet era, if you weren't making hits and you weren't getting arrested it was like you didn't even exist. When I went to a birthday party in the Valley back in 2003 and Leonard was there he was just an old Jew in a hat, not someone who changed the tenor of the entire assemblage. He radiated a charisma, but he seemed self-contained, in his own bubble, you could lean in, but he was not leaning out, it was very different from the famous people who are looking for attention and adoration, it was like he knew something we did not, that the joke was on us, that money and fame were secondary to personal fulfillment, and that life was hard, and you did your best to soldier on.
And then Leonard Cohen lost all his money and went on the road and became an icon.
How weird is all this. If that woman hadn't stolen from him, he might never have played live again, gotten all that press, those accolades. Funny how life goes. You think you're in charge, but you're not.
Leonard got a victory lap nonpareil. He just released a new album that got rave reviews.
And today he died.
So what are we left with?
The songs. He's no longer here, but his work will live on, he's got a legacy.
And what is that legacy?
Someone who did it differently. Who was in search of pleasure, who experienced the pain. Leonard Cohen was a seeker. Whether it be that foray to Greece way back when or up the hill to the monastery, he was looking for answers.
And now he's revered for that.
Let that be a wake-up call. That despite all the emphasis on money, the constant social networking, life is really a mysterious adventure you go through alone, you've got to put one foot in front of the other, you've got to make choices, they're only your own. And those who are willing to buck the trends, who do it their way, are the ones we look up to.
He was a charming poet from Canada, not the scion of a studio head in Los Angeles.
He followed his muse, it led him to a recording contract and the fruits that ultimately bore.
But when I think of Leonard Cohen today, I think of someone who was sui generis, who was birthed in an era where who you were was more important than what you did. A man who realized that telling his own personal story was more important than playing the game, that ultimately it's not statistics we're drawn to, but truth.
And like I said, there's a lot of truth in "Everybody Knows."
"Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody's talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows"
We all know the truth, we're just afraid to speak it. That's what we depend upon artists for, that's why we're drawn to them.
I feel like my father or my dog just died. I've been at loose ends for forty eight hours.
And when you're in a spot like that, the only thing that resonates is music.
Leonard Cohen made music, and so much more.
He needed to express himself.
We needed to listen.
That's how it goes.
Everybody knows.
--
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Wednesday, 9 November 2016
Trump Wins
You can't say we weren't warned.
He defeated all his Republican challengers. Brexit told us that the elites were out of touch with the rank and file. The disconnect is not only about economics, but attitudes, education, identity...
That's right, you went to a good college and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and...
Everybody else was left behind, and they don't like it.
The left wing said it was about racism. Pure and simple. That Trump had awakened all the bigoted nutjobs...
But you can't win with the bigots only. He defeated Hillary fair and square. How did the intelligentsia get it so WRONG?
First, the mainstream press thought people were listening to it. To these holier-than-thou talking heads who are paid millions to bloviate in a world where we get our news from the internet, not television... If you're still watching TV for the answers, you ain't got a clue. How did I know Trump was gonna win? Because early in the evening Nate Silver had him ahead. Said his odds were better than fifty percent. The same Nate Silver the "New York Times" let go, because the sports reporters didn't want to cede turf. If you watched the "Times" odds for the last six months the Donald had no chance, Hillary had it locked up.
But she didn't.
Not that Nate Silver is infallible. He missed the Trump phenomenon completely. He thought when the other Republican candidates started dropping out there'd be a rally around Rubio or another RNC-approved candidate. But that never happened. Nate said Trump's appeal had a ceiling. That turned out to be untrue.
But at least Silver had the balls to admit he was wrong, to stand up to the "Huffington Post," which said Hillary had a lock on the election, when it questioned Nate's methods.
There are two lessons for you right there. Be willing to change and also be willing to stand up for what you believe in. And in this groupthink world we live in that's very rare.
That was part of Trump's appeal. He refused to play by the rules. He said racist stuff, sexist stuff, he committed faux pas after faux pas, he broke taboos. But what the inside the Beltway people and the mainstream media didn't realize was that you hear this stuff all the time online, hatred rules, it's a free-for-all with no decorum. So, people were not offended, they brushed these misdemeanors right off.
But Hillary was a bad candidate! And there was the Comey letter!
If you're depending on those excuses to explain the Democratic loss you're missing the point. This was not the usual race, everything the pols said counted did not. Trump had little infrastructure, almost no get out the vote effort, yet he won anyway.
Could Bernie have defeated Donald?
Maybe. But the same press that made fun of Occupy Wall Street refused to take Sanders seriously. The same cabal that let the Wall Street rapists not only escape scot-free, but triumph once again. That's right, in the financial world it's morning in America.
Maybe not tomorrow, when the markets tank, but...
The conundrum is that Trump's victory will only make things better for the wealthy. Kind of like the old days, when Republicans ran against gay marriage so they could lower their taxes. But the Republicans own the narrative. And the narrative is that government is a controlling wastrel which bleeds money and that Hillary Clinton is a crook.
And the Democratic response?
Crickets.
Bill O'Reilly is accused of sexual harassment and he fights back, Fox News rallies the troops.
Democrats are accused of misdeeds and they become crybabies.
But it's not so much that Clinton was a victim of misdeeds, rather she was out of touch with the public. People need hope. Without platitudes. "Stronger Together"? If that resonates with you, you must be part of Hill's inner circle.
And Hill's inner circle ran a traditional campaign, by the book. Like a record industry banking on resuscitating the CD, never mind the nitwits invested in vinyl. Times change, and you must too. The public embraced streaming, listens on YouTube and Spotify and Apple Music dwarf those on disc or file. But you can't convince the old guard, no way.
So how do we get out of this mess?
First and foremost we're headed for bad times. Trump is inexperienced and expertise is necessary to run any enterprise, just ask Jesse Ventura or Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose reigns were ineffective.
But they were both media stars.
Trump is a media star, anointed by television. In a world where celebrity is everything. Kim Kardashian is a talentless doofus, but she's got more influence than anybody in Congress, she's laughing all the way to the bank, it's not like this wasn't obvious.
And what's obvious is we have to go back to sixties values.
I know, I know, that sounds insane on this day, but the truth is we have to help our brother, we're all in it together. We've got to give the poor and disadvantaged a better education and a leg up, a helping hand.
Doubt me?
Then explain the phenomenon of Purdue Pharma. Which single-handedly created the heroin epidemic by stating that its product OxyContin was not addictive. That's right, you start on Oxy and when you can't afford it you move on to cheaper heroin. Meanwhile, Purdue got rich.
That's the problem. The liberals got rich. They became fat cats. They used to care about the working man, now they want nothing to do with him. Sure, Dems may dominate Silicon Valley, creating the products that those in the red states utilize, but they want nothing to do with their users. Not only is there no tech support, these guys, and it is mostly guys, fly private and live in an alternative universe, and you think the underclass doesn't know?
The underclass knows you can't afford rent even if you do graduate from college, you're living with your parents.
The underclass knows that the fortunate have contempt for them.
So the underclass decided to give the fortunate the middle finger.
First they came for your union, then they came for your welfare, are you really gonna believe in the spineless Democrats who refused to stand up for you?
I don't think so.
Don't get wrapped up in the cognitive dissonance. How these same people will be worse under a Republican regime, left to forage on their own. Citizens in burgs benefiting from European Union expenditures voted for Brexit, because they didn't like being told what to do, they'd lost their identity, they wanted to reclaim it.
You've lost your job, you can't find another one that feeds your family and you're gonna believe the most inauthentic person alive is gonna help you out? That's right, the Clintons triangulate, they do what's expedient in a world that runs on instinct. You go with your gut, not the rulebook.
Donald Trump went with his gut, he burned the rulebook, and he's having the last laugh.
The joke may be on us, but he's now our President, and with a Republican Congress he's gonna dismantle Obamacare and Dodd-Frank and people will be worse off. But they wanted change. They're hurting. They're open to anything new. Even a charlatan preaching false hope.
But if you want to be angry tonight, be angry at yourself. For drinking the media kool-aid. These are the newspapers we've got to save? Not only did they get it wrong, they're operating in an echo chamber, they're out of touch, maybe a new model is necessary. Be angry at yourself for not taking a stand against narcissism, for taking your piece of the pie and not giving back, for living on the fruits of the system.
Like musicians, whose goal is to sell out. One song of truth can have more power than any corporation. But no, these soulless "artists" would rather get paid. Everybody's looking to get paid.
Don't try to explain this by traditional metrics.
And even though I'm giving Nate Silver some credit, the truth is data did not foresee this. We thought everything could be mechanized, that 0's and 1's would save the world, when the truth is it comes down to people, and emotions, and no machine can compete.
Facebook was biased, Google is controlling what we know and see...
Well, if that's true, how come these left-leaning organizations couldn't elect Hillary?
No, the truth is we can never know what's inside another human being, what they feel.
But we can see that most of America was disgruntled with the status quo, it wanted a reset, and it got it.
I can't even contemplate tomorrow.
But I can see the seeds of discontent. The yuppie movement. The BMWification of the upper middle class. The flaunting of wealth. The separation of them from us.
We're all just people folks.
One person, one vote.
And the people have spoken.
They want Trump.
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He defeated all his Republican challengers. Brexit told us that the elites were out of touch with the rank and file. The disconnect is not only about economics, but attitudes, education, identity...
That's right, you went to a good college and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and...
Everybody else was left behind, and they don't like it.
The left wing said it was about racism. Pure and simple. That Trump had awakened all the bigoted nutjobs...
But you can't win with the bigots only. He defeated Hillary fair and square. How did the intelligentsia get it so WRONG?
First, the mainstream press thought people were listening to it. To these holier-than-thou talking heads who are paid millions to bloviate in a world where we get our news from the internet, not television... If you're still watching TV for the answers, you ain't got a clue. How did I know Trump was gonna win? Because early in the evening Nate Silver had him ahead. Said his odds were better than fifty percent. The same Nate Silver the "New York Times" let go, because the sports reporters didn't want to cede turf. If you watched the "Times" odds for the last six months the Donald had no chance, Hillary had it locked up.
But she didn't.
Not that Nate Silver is infallible. He missed the Trump phenomenon completely. He thought when the other Republican candidates started dropping out there'd be a rally around Rubio or another RNC-approved candidate. But that never happened. Nate said Trump's appeal had a ceiling. That turned out to be untrue.
But at least Silver had the balls to admit he was wrong, to stand up to the "Huffington Post," which said Hillary had a lock on the election, when it questioned Nate's methods.
There are two lessons for you right there. Be willing to change and also be willing to stand up for what you believe in. And in this groupthink world we live in that's very rare.
That was part of Trump's appeal. He refused to play by the rules. He said racist stuff, sexist stuff, he committed faux pas after faux pas, he broke taboos. But what the inside the Beltway people and the mainstream media didn't realize was that you hear this stuff all the time online, hatred rules, it's a free-for-all with no decorum. So, people were not offended, they brushed these misdemeanors right off.
But Hillary was a bad candidate! And there was the Comey letter!
If you're depending on those excuses to explain the Democratic loss you're missing the point. This was not the usual race, everything the pols said counted did not. Trump had little infrastructure, almost no get out the vote effort, yet he won anyway.
Could Bernie have defeated Donald?
Maybe. But the same press that made fun of Occupy Wall Street refused to take Sanders seriously. The same cabal that let the Wall Street rapists not only escape scot-free, but triumph once again. That's right, in the financial world it's morning in America.
Maybe not tomorrow, when the markets tank, but...
The conundrum is that Trump's victory will only make things better for the wealthy. Kind of like the old days, when Republicans ran against gay marriage so they could lower their taxes. But the Republicans own the narrative. And the narrative is that government is a controlling wastrel which bleeds money and that Hillary Clinton is a crook.
And the Democratic response?
Crickets.
Bill O'Reilly is accused of sexual harassment and he fights back, Fox News rallies the troops.
Democrats are accused of misdeeds and they become crybabies.
But it's not so much that Clinton was a victim of misdeeds, rather she was out of touch with the public. People need hope. Without platitudes. "Stronger Together"? If that resonates with you, you must be part of Hill's inner circle.
And Hill's inner circle ran a traditional campaign, by the book. Like a record industry banking on resuscitating the CD, never mind the nitwits invested in vinyl. Times change, and you must too. The public embraced streaming, listens on YouTube and Spotify and Apple Music dwarf those on disc or file. But you can't convince the old guard, no way.
So how do we get out of this mess?
First and foremost we're headed for bad times. Trump is inexperienced and expertise is necessary to run any enterprise, just ask Jesse Ventura or Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose reigns were ineffective.
But they were both media stars.
Trump is a media star, anointed by television. In a world where celebrity is everything. Kim Kardashian is a talentless doofus, but she's got more influence than anybody in Congress, she's laughing all the way to the bank, it's not like this wasn't obvious.
And what's obvious is we have to go back to sixties values.
I know, I know, that sounds insane on this day, but the truth is we have to help our brother, we're all in it together. We've got to give the poor and disadvantaged a better education and a leg up, a helping hand.
Doubt me?
Then explain the phenomenon of Purdue Pharma. Which single-handedly created the heroin epidemic by stating that its product OxyContin was not addictive. That's right, you start on Oxy and when you can't afford it you move on to cheaper heroin. Meanwhile, Purdue got rich.
That's the problem. The liberals got rich. They became fat cats. They used to care about the working man, now they want nothing to do with him. Sure, Dems may dominate Silicon Valley, creating the products that those in the red states utilize, but they want nothing to do with their users. Not only is there no tech support, these guys, and it is mostly guys, fly private and live in an alternative universe, and you think the underclass doesn't know?
The underclass knows you can't afford rent even if you do graduate from college, you're living with your parents.
The underclass knows that the fortunate have contempt for them.
So the underclass decided to give the fortunate the middle finger.
First they came for your union, then they came for your welfare, are you really gonna believe in the spineless Democrats who refused to stand up for you?
I don't think so.
Don't get wrapped up in the cognitive dissonance. How these same people will be worse under a Republican regime, left to forage on their own. Citizens in burgs benefiting from European Union expenditures voted for Brexit, because they didn't like being told what to do, they'd lost their identity, they wanted to reclaim it.
You've lost your job, you can't find another one that feeds your family and you're gonna believe the most inauthentic person alive is gonna help you out? That's right, the Clintons triangulate, they do what's expedient in a world that runs on instinct. You go with your gut, not the rulebook.
Donald Trump went with his gut, he burned the rulebook, and he's having the last laugh.
The joke may be on us, but he's now our President, and with a Republican Congress he's gonna dismantle Obamacare and Dodd-Frank and people will be worse off. But they wanted change. They're hurting. They're open to anything new. Even a charlatan preaching false hope.
But if you want to be angry tonight, be angry at yourself. For drinking the media kool-aid. These are the newspapers we've got to save? Not only did they get it wrong, they're operating in an echo chamber, they're out of touch, maybe a new model is necessary. Be angry at yourself for not taking a stand against narcissism, for taking your piece of the pie and not giving back, for living on the fruits of the system.
Like musicians, whose goal is to sell out. One song of truth can have more power than any corporation. But no, these soulless "artists" would rather get paid. Everybody's looking to get paid.
Don't try to explain this by traditional metrics.
And even though I'm giving Nate Silver some credit, the truth is data did not foresee this. We thought everything could be mechanized, that 0's and 1's would save the world, when the truth is it comes down to people, and emotions, and no machine can compete.
Facebook was biased, Google is controlling what we know and see...
Well, if that's true, how come these left-leaning organizations couldn't elect Hillary?
No, the truth is we can never know what's inside another human being, what they feel.
But we can see that most of America was disgruntled with the status quo, it wanted a reset, and it got it.
I can't even contemplate tomorrow.
But I can see the seeds of discontent. The yuppie movement. The BMWification of the upper middle class. The flaunting of wealth. The separation of them from us.
We're all just people folks.
One person, one vote.
And the people have spoken.
They want Trump.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/?utm_source=phplist5631&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Trump+Wins
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Monday, 7 November 2016
Stranger Things
My shrink saw it.
We don't have that kind of relationship, one wherein he shares his personal story. It's all about me, all the time, which I find a bit difficult, I tend to reflect the sun upon others. Ask somebody a question, show interest, and they'll go on forever, they'll tell you their deepest, darkest secrets.
But they won't reciprocate. That's the dirty little secret of people, they're self-centered, narcissistic, if someone asks you about you they're a keeper. And if you want to get ahead in this life, win friends and influence people, show interest, everybody wants to be known, they're just waiting for someone to ask, tell somebody your story and you bond forever, never forget that.
But my shrink shocked me today, when I mentioned the Netflix show, a big smile spread across his face, he got excited, and that's when I asked him, had he seen it?
He had.
I wasn't going to. The hype slid off of me. Sure, it featured Winona Ryder, but all the reviewers said it was better than adequate but not top-notch.
But the populace felt otherwise.
Professional reviewers are toast. We depend upon the wisdom of the crowd. And oftentimes their interests don't align. And TV shows are now akin to books, they're hiding in plain sight until the word of mouth becomes deafening and we all tune in. This is not appointment television, this is land mines, waiting for you to step on them, to be blown away, to tell everybody about your experience.
A UTA agent told me it was one of the two best shows on television. The other being "Atlanta." Are you feeling the buzz on that FX show? Starring the ubiquitous Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino? That's one the critics have all aligned on, yet it hasn't quite penetrated the public consciousness. That's the world we live in, you can employ scorched earth publicity and either gain traction or not, in most cases not, like Gaga, or you can put it out there to little impact and wait for the public to make noise. And people love to embrace art and spread the word, it makes them feel good.
And I read that Stephenie Meyer couldn't wait for the second season of "Stranger Things," and I never read the "Twilight" books but I know she's a fan, kind of like Elton, he not only makes the music, he LISTENS TO IT! So many artists are ME, ME, ME all the time and that focus has us either accepting or neglecting them, there's no in between, but when they're a fan like us...
So now I was ready.
Now "Stranger Things" was released on Netflix on July 15th. Let that be a lesson to you, don't judge your results upon the first week. If you've made something great give it some time. Then again, there's a tsunami of product and it might get buried, we live in challenging times.
So I'm late to the party, but it's new to me. If you're putting people down for being late adopters you're living by twentieth century precepts. Today there's so much stuff no one can keep up. Be thrilled someone ever comes on board.
And I love Netflix.
But it's not what it once was. It no longer has an exhaustive catalog of flicks.
What I hate about movies is you can read about 'em but you can't see 'em. I'm paying $150 to Spectrum, and I fire up my cable maybe an hour and a half a week. There's the Netflix subscription and the Amazon Prime and I'm already paying for HBO... It's like being pecked to death by ducks. Name a number for everything, please. We've got that in music, when are we going to get that in movies?
I was listening to Brett Easton Ellis testify about the Duplass Brothers' "Blue Jay" in his podcast. It's coming to Netflix, but I couldn't wait. Because if you wait, you never see it, there's always something new. So I paid. Five bucks. And felt ripped off. Because even though I'm a fan of Mark and Jay this movie was far from great, and I only have time for great. And I didn't think "Stranger Things" was great at first, but I'm changing my mind.
Funny thing about some of these shows, it takes a while for you to get hooked. With "Stranger Things" I'd say it's four episodes, by time you hit five you want to slow down the clock, you're afraid it's going to be over.
So, it's made by the Duffer Brothers, who I've never heard of before. That's one of the great things about art and the low barrier to entry, there are always new players on the scene, testing limits, pushing boundaries. And "Stranger Things" is a horror flick, a fantasy/sci-fi production, but it's also a human drama, about high school and families and...
It's a whole world and you get sucked down the rabbit hole.
Quite a respite from this election cycle we're living through, where everybody disagrees and is hunkered down in their bunker, unwilling to listen or change. And that's the power of art, it's the ANTIDOTE!
Life is boring.
But that's what makes it interesting. Everybody's the lead in their own movie, everybody's got a story, which brings us back to the opening of this diatribe but...
Will Byers disappears.
But Eleven has got superpowers.
And Matthew Modine has never been better, he finally lives up to his rep.
And the series is referential. Not only to so many horror movies made previously, but "E.T.," with the three kids in search of...
Kids are hamstrung by their parents, yet they live in a relatively stress-free world unburdened by adult responsibilities.
Of course there's bullying and status issues, but...
I abhor fantasy, yet I like a good thrill. You're gonna wonder about some of the choices the characters make, but you'll find yourself pulled in by "Stranger Things." Winona Ryder might be recognizable, but almost everybody else is not, it's kind of like the original "90210," these actors have been plucked from obscurity to leave their mark and...
Netflix gives you the money to execute your vision. Something we used to do in the music business before the suits took over. The artists know best.
And the public knows when something resonates.
I heard Dana Carvey on Stern, one of the most entertaining hours extant.
But I pulled up Garth's Netflix special and winced, he doesn't know how to sustain, Dana can riff, and that's about it. But the Duffer Brothers?
We live in exciting times. Despite all the hogwash about short attention spans, "experts" telling us to make it ever so much more brief, the truth is we want to go deep, we want to enmesh ourselves in the story.
But you've got to write it, you've got to birth it and finish it.
And...
"Stranger Things" is not the "Walking Dead," a show that comes on once a week that we talk about the very next day. It's something more sinister, like Cream or the rest of the album acts that didn't cross over to Top Forty, at least not at first. "Stranger Things" is made for people who are digging, who want to go for the ride more than talk about it. It's not for Instagramming, but for watching.
Some things remain the same, the public wants to be entertained, it's got an insatiable appetite for quality entertainment.
And "Stranger Things" is that.
I'm not gonna tell you what happens. I'm just spreading the word. So that maybe you'll take a chance and be happy.
"Stranger Things" is making me very happy.
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We don't have that kind of relationship, one wherein he shares his personal story. It's all about me, all the time, which I find a bit difficult, I tend to reflect the sun upon others. Ask somebody a question, show interest, and they'll go on forever, they'll tell you their deepest, darkest secrets.
But they won't reciprocate. That's the dirty little secret of people, they're self-centered, narcissistic, if someone asks you about you they're a keeper. And if you want to get ahead in this life, win friends and influence people, show interest, everybody wants to be known, they're just waiting for someone to ask, tell somebody your story and you bond forever, never forget that.
But my shrink shocked me today, when I mentioned the Netflix show, a big smile spread across his face, he got excited, and that's when I asked him, had he seen it?
He had.
I wasn't going to. The hype slid off of me. Sure, it featured Winona Ryder, but all the reviewers said it was better than adequate but not top-notch.
But the populace felt otherwise.
Professional reviewers are toast. We depend upon the wisdom of the crowd. And oftentimes their interests don't align. And TV shows are now akin to books, they're hiding in plain sight until the word of mouth becomes deafening and we all tune in. This is not appointment television, this is land mines, waiting for you to step on them, to be blown away, to tell everybody about your experience.
A UTA agent told me it was one of the two best shows on television. The other being "Atlanta." Are you feeling the buzz on that FX show? Starring the ubiquitous Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino? That's one the critics have all aligned on, yet it hasn't quite penetrated the public consciousness. That's the world we live in, you can employ scorched earth publicity and either gain traction or not, in most cases not, like Gaga, or you can put it out there to little impact and wait for the public to make noise. And people love to embrace art and spread the word, it makes them feel good.
And I read that Stephenie Meyer couldn't wait for the second season of "Stranger Things," and I never read the "Twilight" books but I know she's a fan, kind of like Elton, he not only makes the music, he LISTENS TO IT! So many artists are ME, ME, ME all the time and that focus has us either accepting or neglecting them, there's no in between, but when they're a fan like us...
So now I was ready.
Now "Stranger Things" was released on Netflix on July 15th. Let that be a lesson to you, don't judge your results upon the first week. If you've made something great give it some time. Then again, there's a tsunami of product and it might get buried, we live in challenging times.
So I'm late to the party, but it's new to me. If you're putting people down for being late adopters you're living by twentieth century precepts. Today there's so much stuff no one can keep up. Be thrilled someone ever comes on board.
And I love Netflix.
But it's not what it once was. It no longer has an exhaustive catalog of flicks.
What I hate about movies is you can read about 'em but you can't see 'em. I'm paying $150 to Spectrum, and I fire up my cable maybe an hour and a half a week. There's the Netflix subscription and the Amazon Prime and I'm already paying for HBO... It's like being pecked to death by ducks. Name a number for everything, please. We've got that in music, when are we going to get that in movies?
I was listening to Brett Easton Ellis testify about the Duplass Brothers' "Blue Jay" in his podcast. It's coming to Netflix, but I couldn't wait. Because if you wait, you never see it, there's always something new. So I paid. Five bucks. And felt ripped off. Because even though I'm a fan of Mark and Jay this movie was far from great, and I only have time for great. And I didn't think "Stranger Things" was great at first, but I'm changing my mind.
Funny thing about some of these shows, it takes a while for you to get hooked. With "Stranger Things" I'd say it's four episodes, by time you hit five you want to slow down the clock, you're afraid it's going to be over.
So, it's made by the Duffer Brothers, who I've never heard of before. That's one of the great things about art and the low barrier to entry, there are always new players on the scene, testing limits, pushing boundaries. And "Stranger Things" is a horror flick, a fantasy/sci-fi production, but it's also a human drama, about high school and families and...
It's a whole world and you get sucked down the rabbit hole.
Quite a respite from this election cycle we're living through, where everybody disagrees and is hunkered down in their bunker, unwilling to listen or change. And that's the power of art, it's the ANTIDOTE!
Life is boring.
But that's what makes it interesting. Everybody's the lead in their own movie, everybody's got a story, which brings us back to the opening of this diatribe but...
Will Byers disappears.
But Eleven has got superpowers.
And Matthew Modine has never been better, he finally lives up to his rep.
And the series is referential. Not only to so many horror movies made previously, but "E.T.," with the three kids in search of...
Kids are hamstrung by their parents, yet they live in a relatively stress-free world unburdened by adult responsibilities.
Of course there's bullying and status issues, but...
I abhor fantasy, yet I like a good thrill. You're gonna wonder about some of the choices the characters make, but you'll find yourself pulled in by "Stranger Things." Winona Ryder might be recognizable, but almost everybody else is not, it's kind of like the original "90210," these actors have been plucked from obscurity to leave their mark and...
Netflix gives you the money to execute your vision. Something we used to do in the music business before the suits took over. The artists know best.
And the public knows when something resonates.
I heard Dana Carvey on Stern, one of the most entertaining hours extant.
But I pulled up Garth's Netflix special and winced, he doesn't know how to sustain, Dana can riff, and that's about it. But the Duffer Brothers?
We live in exciting times. Despite all the hogwash about short attention spans, "experts" telling us to make it ever so much more brief, the truth is we want to go deep, we want to enmesh ourselves in the story.
But you've got to write it, you've got to birth it and finish it.
And...
"Stranger Things" is not the "Walking Dead," a show that comes on once a week that we talk about the very next day. It's something more sinister, like Cream or the rest of the album acts that didn't cross over to Top Forty, at least not at first. "Stranger Things" is made for people who are digging, who want to go for the ride more than talk about it. It's not for Instagramming, but for watching.
Some things remain the same, the public wants to be entertained, it's got an insatiable appetite for quality entertainment.
And "Stranger Things" is that.
I'm not gonna tell you what happens. I'm just spreading the word. So that maybe you'll take a chance and be happy.
"Stranger Things" is making me very happy.
--
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Sunday, 6 November 2016
How We Got Here
"Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now"
"Get Together"
The Youngbloods
"Break records at Louis, ate breakfast at Gucci
My girl a superstar from a home movie"
"Clique"
Kanye West
Trump could win.
The left-leaning mainstream press, except for Fox News, of course, is selling a different story, that Hillary is safely ahead, the Democratic turnout is deafening, Latinos are coming out in droves, and the Donald has little chance.
But Nate Silver says otherwise. He says that Hillary is up by three points nationally and that three point polling errors happen all the time. And that Trump has a one in three chance of electoral college victory. And Nate is the most accurate prognosticator we've got, but he's been wrong too. He said Trump had no chance in the primaries, but Trump succeeded. Is Silver overcorrecting? Afraid to have egg on his face? Then again, Silver is dealing with data, not emotion, and if you lean toward sanity, this is positively scary.
As for that left-leaning mainstream press... That's a construct of the right wing propaganda machine. Hillary is a criminal and the press is not to be trusted, it's biased, in favor of anything the right wing does not believe in, in this case reason. But that's the country we live in, where everybody's working the refs, and the Republicans did a great job of it, read Paul Krugman on the Comey letter...
And that proves we also live in a world of individuals. Not only can one person in Silicon Valley change the world, but one person in Washington, D.C., one person at home with a vote. And that's always been true, despite groupthink, but that's one of the few things that parallels what once was.
The mainstream media has never had less power. And it is run by elites. Have you seen what these TV personalities make? Furthermore, none of them do any reporting, they're just talking heads, pundits, entertainers, no wonder the news divisions are profit centers, there's little gravitas, and little audience.
So the country is run by the "New York Times," with boots on the ground. But the "Times" is not gaining online, it's individual websites, news sites, who are repurposing the "Times"'s facts if there are any facts at all, speaking to a mistrustful audience that only hears what it wants to. What's a poor boy to do? Certainly not play in a rock and roll band, there's no money in that. Corporations control the cash, and for all the tech press, the odds of scoring big are just as long as having a hit record and if you've got a brain you hunker down and get an education, it's the safe way out, and in this era you want to play it safe, otherwise why would record companies employ the same cadre of old men to write all the hit records, they don't want to take a risk!
The youth may have succeeded in getting rid of Lyndon Johnson, but no one under thirty expected Richard Nixon to get elected and the seventies were all about licking one's wounds, going back to the land. Hell, even Bernie Sanders moved to Vermont, albeit in '68, it was just too rough in the decaying inner city run by the usual suspects.
But today the cities are safe, other than Chicago, and bastions of intellectualism, it's the country where your life is in danger, from opioids, from guns, from lack of services. And this is where the disgruntlement has burgeoned.
Along with a south that was scary back then and is scary still now. If you had long hair you didn't venture below the Mason-Dixon line. But instead of feeling inadequate, our brethren in the Sun Belt now feel powerful, they're not licking the wounds of Reconstruction, North Carolina is bringing back the values of the Old South, and Texas is as red as it could be. They're girded for battle, they won't back down, the Allman Brothers might have gotten moderate Democrat Jimmy Carter elected President, but now there are no powerful moderate Democrats down south and all the players are in Nashville where if you evidence blue values, you're evicted.
And then came the eighties. It was not the sixties anymore. First came MTV, which showed us you could make a lot of money by looking good and selling out. It also showed us we lived in a heterogeneous society of many colors. Which is why we've got a black President and gay marriage, credit MTV, it changed people's values. But it also eliminated the rock star values of yore. Wherein speaking your truth and being independent counted. It was all money, all the time. Sure, Led Zeppelin made it about the money in the seventies, but that band played by its own rules, they were the Trumps of their day, albeit less heinous, although one can compare the mud shark episode to the groping scandals of Trump, then again, Jimmy and Robert, never mind Bonzo, were not running for President. They were selling something different, music, and it hasn't been about the music for a very long time.
Along with MTV the eighties bought Reagan, who the Republicans have deified. For what accomplishments, I'm not sure. But this is important. Because the right wing skewed the game. It started the Federalist Society, to put right wing judges in place. It's a giant disinformation campaign wherein government is not to be trusted, taxes are bad, and corporations are good. I'll argue Reagan did much more damage than good, but my inbox will fill up.
But I can take it.
But no one else can.
Everybody today is recoiling, trying to avoid the tsunami of hate.
And then Bill Clinton gets elected and prosperity reigns. As the social safety net is eviscerated. But so much money is coming in, the deficit evaporates, that we're all partying like it's 1999, and then it is, we don't care about the poor, the country is run by educated baby boomers who've been coddled and out of touch with the rank and file for years and then...
The twenty first century comes along and it all gets worse.
There's a tech revolution, spearheaded by Steve Jobs. First we get iPods, then we get iPhones. And in the process, media is disrupted. Not only the music companies, but the news too. And the movies. Music is now in a good place on a business level, it's made it to the other side, all the wares for one low legal price. Where is this in movies and television? Nonexistent, and that's a problem. But the movie and TV executives believe they're smarter than the idiots working in music, that they're immune, and there's the problem right there, elites who think they're better than the rest, and immune. But they're not, Brexit taught us that.
So now we can all communicate. And what we've ended up with is noise, a Tower of Babel society, where you only hear what you want to. Where Hillary fans know no Trump supporters. With all this information at our fingertips we actually know less, because we filter for our prejudices. We just reinforce what we already know, while those in power try to sell us what's advantageous to them.
Like there's no downside in selling out to the man. Music used to be predicated on independence, no longer. Therefore, the public doesn't look for truth in it like it once did. Why would you believe what a musician has to say? Someone who wrote the song with nineteen other people and is trying to sell you jeans and perfume along with his or her opinion.
And if you don't have money, your opinion is worthless. Reagan legitimized greed, the rich flaunt their lifestyles and in a world where Lloyd Blankfein makes all the money and rules, why listen to a singer? And Marc Andreessen is a seer... What did he ever do other than start Netscape, a company that's been plowed under, no one's using Netscape today, but they are still listening to Beatle records.
We've got false idols and life is hard and you'll do and believe anything that makes you feel good.
Purdue says OxyContin is not addictive so it's overprescribed and we end up with a heroin epidemic. And no one cared until the sons and daughters of rich Republicans started dying too.
And the younger generation, even college graduates, is still living with its parents, they can't afford to move out. But we keep hearing about the greatness of Megyn Kelly. How does one become her and what exactly is she selling? So if you're not beautiful you don't count and if you're on TV you matter, is it any wonder everybody's at home burnishing their social media brand, trying to make it? YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat are the great hope, they're the way out of the doldrums, out of the suburbs into a world of money and fame. And you might question what skills these people bring to the table, but what skills does Kim Kardashian bring to the table, and she's their hero, she's the biggest winner! She makes more than the musicians and the path is easier, why would you bother to learn how to play?
And if you do play, you can't get noticed unless you play pop music and are pushed by the machine. So most players are disgruntled. Everybody in America is disgruntled other than the rich. So we want to be them and they ride herd over us. Hell, people believe Trump is their friend the same way we thought David Crosby was our friend way back when. But Crosby was a hotheaded stoner in service to the music, he and his cronies made lasting contributions. But now it's all smoke and mirrors and self-aggrandizing and...
There's progress to be made. We could all agree on the facts. But that would require news outlets to focus on them, to stop employing false equivalencies and focus on reporting. And put aside the emphasis on the get and the horse race. But it might be bad television. That's right, "Network" predicted this, it's all about ratings.
And the cultural institutions would have to have some self-respect. Record companies would have to take a chance on that which is not an easy sell. And the self-righteous nerds in the arts focused on trumping up that which few care about will have to self-correct too. How is it that there are elites in every enterprise? Who think they're better than the rest. The public is locked out, to the point it doesn't care, and then it foists something like Trump upon the holier-than-thou elites to show them that they really don't rule.
That's right, the people rule. And the media and the pollsters and the prognosticators are all out of touch with the people. They think their power is inviolate, that what they say goes, that they know better, and if you don't hate these people, you're one of them.
And there are very few of them.
So, the right wing labels Hillary a crook. As if she broke into a bank, shot twenty people and stole millions. Actually, that's not far from the version of the truth they're selling. You'd think she's a deplorable.
But the true deplorables are the white supremacist, immigrant-hating men and women who don't believe in change.
But change is inevitable.
And change is what has happened in our country. And no one seems to have a grasp on it. Not the media, not artists, no one seems to be able to say this is where we are and I've got a plan out of here. Trump is a bozo selling snake oil and Hillary is completely out of touch. But so is the government. Government is now a way to get rich, no different from Hollywood way back when. Hate the game, not the player.
And everybody does hate the game.
But we keep playing it. So far, revolution has not come. Shooting black people is bad, but somehow it's now the African-Americans' fault, explain that to me, please. And if Trump loses his supporters want to overthrow the government, not realizing that Congress has nearly done this, by not promulgating legislation and not anointing a Supreme Court justice. We're constantly on the precipice but we don't tip over. Will it take a terrorist attack, or a hacking scandal of gigantic proportions? And then will we elect a strongman who makes us safe who really does anything but that?
If you've got a brain, you've got more questions than answers.
And if you've got a brain you're doing your best to understand the dissatisfaction in our nation. Quote me statistics all day long, but it doesn't feel like we're going in the right direction, it doesn't feel like I have opportunity, and hope is everything, but there's only hope for the rich elite.
Which is how Trump gained traction. Want to turn things around? Look at yourself, change your behavior, don't only vote but ask yourself if you respect others, look for their gifts. The rich have all the money, but the poor will help you in a crisis, that's what the statistics say.
And we trust statistics, but sometimes falsely. Because they're cherry-picked, they don't tell the truth. We won't know which candidate will win until everybody votes and their choices have been tabulated.
There's a serious chance Trump wins.
And even if he doesn't, and let's pray he doesn't, our long national nightmare will not have ended, it will have only just begun. The government will be gridlocked and the problems of the people will still exist.
And the problem is we all live in a society, we're all in it together, and no one wants to live by that credo, everybody's pointing fingers at everyone else and looking for a way out. They want to separate themselves, but it can't be done. It is a big tent, it is a Great Society. And you can't win every time, you've got to do your best to understand contrary viewpoints, educate people on the facts and include them in progress.
But recently, that's become impossible to do. We planted seeds decades ago that are now sprouting and surprising us.
Come on, do you expect the poor to do the right thing when public education has been underfunded and people can't analyze the truth, never mind know where to find it?
No, we're all complicit.
And we've got to turn this country around.
We need new leaders and we've got to watch the parking meters, but the parking meters were all sold to hedge funds that now charge us on Sundays and public service is seen as a joke, an engineer is revered but someone who has dedicated themselves to the process, to helping others, is not.
This is where we are.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Then again, those words were written by a Canadian.
But we're constantly told the United States is the greatest country in the world!
But in many ways it's not.
And if we can't look for the truth in our country, how are we gonna look for the truth in ourselves?
We've got a long way to go, and whatever happens on Tuesday it is not the end, but only the beginning.
Nate Silver - "Election Update: Don't Ignore The Polls - Clinton Leads, But It's A Close Race": http://53eig.ht/2ednH7Y?utm_source=phplist5629&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=How+We+Got+Here
Paul Krugman - "Working the Refs": http://nyti.ms/2fvl1Pt?utm_source=phplist5629&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=How+We+Got+Here
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Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now"
"Get Together"
The Youngbloods
"Break records at Louis, ate breakfast at Gucci
My girl a superstar from a home movie"
"Clique"
Kanye West
Trump could win.
The left-leaning mainstream press, except for Fox News, of course, is selling a different story, that Hillary is safely ahead, the Democratic turnout is deafening, Latinos are coming out in droves, and the Donald has little chance.
But Nate Silver says otherwise. He says that Hillary is up by three points nationally and that three point polling errors happen all the time. And that Trump has a one in three chance of electoral college victory. And Nate is the most accurate prognosticator we've got, but he's been wrong too. He said Trump had no chance in the primaries, but Trump succeeded. Is Silver overcorrecting? Afraid to have egg on his face? Then again, Silver is dealing with data, not emotion, and if you lean toward sanity, this is positively scary.
As for that left-leaning mainstream press... That's a construct of the right wing propaganda machine. Hillary is a criminal and the press is not to be trusted, it's biased, in favor of anything the right wing does not believe in, in this case reason. But that's the country we live in, where everybody's working the refs, and the Republicans did a great job of it, read Paul Krugman on the Comey letter...
And that proves we also live in a world of individuals. Not only can one person in Silicon Valley change the world, but one person in Washington, D.C., one person at home with a vote. And that's always been true, despite groupthink, but that's one of the few things that parallels what once was.
The mainstream media has never had less power. And it is run by elites. Have you seen what these TV personalities make? Furthermore, none of them do any reporting, they're just talking heads, pundits, entertainers, no wonder the news divisions are profit centers, there's little gravitas, and little audience.
So the country is run by the "New York Times," with boots on the ground. But the "Times" is not gaining online, it's individual websites, news sites, who are repurposing the "Times"'s facts if there are any facts at all, speaking to a mistrustful audience that only hears what it wants to. What's a poor boy to do? Certainly not play in a rock and roll band, there's no money in that. Corporations control the cash, and for all the tech press, the odds of scoring big are just as long as having a hit record and if you've got a brain you hunker down and get an education, it's the safe way out, and in this era you want to play it safe, otherwise why would record companies employ the same cadre of old men to write all the hit records, they don't want to take a risk!
The youth may have succeeded in getting rid of Lyndon Johnson, but no one under thirty expected Richard Nixon to get elected and the seventies were all about licking one's wounds, going back to the land. Hell, even Bernie Sanders moved to Vermont, albeit in '68, it was just too rough in the decaying inner city run by the usual suspects.
But today the cities are safe, other than Chicago, and bastions of intellectualism, it's the country where your life is in danger, from opioids, from guns, from lack of services. And this is where the disgruntlement has burgeoned.
Along with a south that was scary back then and is scary still now. If you had long hair you didn't venture below the Mason-Dixon line. But instead of feeling inadequate, our brethren in the Sun Belt now feel powerful, they're not licking the wounds of Reconstruction, North Carolina is bringing back the values of the Old South, and Texas is as red as it could be. They're girded for battle, they won't back down, the Allman Brothers might have gotten moderate Democrat Jimmy Carter elected President, but now there are no powerful moderate Democrats down south and all the players are in Nashville where if you evidence blue values, you're evicted.
And then came the eighties. It was not the sixties anymore. First came MTV, which showed us you could make a lot of money by looking good and selling out. It also showed us we lived in a heterogeneous society of many colors. Which is why we've got a black President and gay marriage, credit MTV, it changed people's values. But it also eliminated the rock star values of yore. Wherein speaking your truth and being independent counted. It was all money, all the time. Sure, Led Zeppelin made it about the money in the seventies, but that band played by its own rules, they were the Trumps of their day, albeit less heinous, although one can compare the mud shark episode to the groping scandals of Trump, then again, Jimmy and Robert, never mind Bonzo, were not running for President. They were selling something different, music, and it hasn't been about the music for a very long time.
Along with MTV the eighties bought Reagan, who the Republicans have deified. For what accomplishments, I'm not sure. But this is important. Because the right wing skewed the game. It started the Federalist Society, to put right wing judges in place. It's a giant disinformation campaign wherein government is not to be trusted, taxes are bad, and corporations are good. I'll argue Reagan did much more damage than good, but my inbox will fill up.
But I can take it.
But no one else can.
Everybody today is recoiling, trying to avoid the tsunami of hate.
And then Bill Clinton gets elected and prosperity reigns. As the social safety net is eviscerated. But so much money is coming in, the deficit evaporates, that we're all partying like it's 1999, and then it is, we don't care about the poor, the country is run by educated baby boomers who've been coddled and out of touch with the rank and file for years and then...
The twenty first century comes along and it all gets worse.
There's a tech revolution, spearheaded by Steve Jobs. First we get iPods, then we get iPhones. And in the process, media is disrupted. Not only the music companies, but the news too. And the movies. Music is now in a good place on a business level, it's made it to the other side, all the wares for one low legal price. Where is this in movies and television? Nonexistent, and that's a problem. But the movie and TV executives believe they're smarter than the idiots working in music, that they're immune, and there's the problem right there, elites who think they're better than the rest, and immune. But they're not, Brexit taught us that.
So now we can all communicate. And what we've ended up with is noise, a Tower of Babel society, where you only hear what you want to. Where Hillary fans know no Trump supporters. With all this information at our fingertips we actually know less, because we filter for our prejudices. We just reinforce what we already know, while those in power try to sell us what's advantageous to them.
Like there's no downside in selling out to the man. Music used to be predicated on independence, no longer. Therefore, the public doesn't look for truth in it like it once did. Why would you believe what a musician has to say? Someone who wrote the song with nineteen other people and is trying to sell you jeans and perfume along with his or her opinion.
And if you don't have money, your opinion is worthless. Reagan legitimized greed, the rich flaunt their lifestyles and in a world where Lloyd Blankfein makes all the money and rules, why listen to a singer? And Marc Andreessen is a seer... What did he ever do other than start Netscape, a company that's been plowed under, no one's using Netscape today, but they are still listening to Beatle records.
We've got false idols and life is hard and you'll do and believe anything that makes you feel good.
Purdue says OxyContin is not addictive so it's overprescribed and we end up with a heroin epidemic. And no one cared until the sons and daughters of rich Republicans started dying too.
And the younger generation, even college graduates, is still living with its parents, they can't afford to move out. But we keep hearing about the greatness of Megyn Kelly. How does one become her and what exactly is she selling? So if you're not beautiful you don't count and if you're on TV you matter, is it any wonder everybody's at home burnishing their social media brand, trying to make it? YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat are the great hope, they're the way out of the doldrums, out of the suburbs into a world of money and fame. And you might question what skills these people bring to the table, but what skills does Kim Kardashian bring to the table, and she's their hero, she's the biggest winner! She makes more than the musicians and the path is easier, why would you bother to learn how to play?
And if you do play, you can't get noticed unless you play pop music and are pushed by the machine. So most players are disgruntled. Everybody in America is disgruntled other than the rich. So we want to be them and they ride herd over us. Hell, people believe Trump is their friend the same way we thought David Crosby was our friend way back when. But Crosby was a hotheaded stoner in service to the music, he and his cronies made lasting contributions. But now it's all smoke and mirrors and self-aggrandizing and...
There's progress to be made. We could all agree on the facts. But that would require news outlets to focus on them, to stop employing false equivalencies and focus on reporting. And put aside the emphasis on the get and the horse race. But it might be bad television. That's right, "Network" predicted this, it's all about ratings.
And the cultural institutions would have to have some self-respect. Record companies would have to take a chance on that which is not an easy sell. And the self-righteous nerds in the arts focused on trumping up that which few care about will have to self-correct too. How is it that there are elites in every enterprise? Who think they're better than the rest. The public is locked out, to the point it doesn't care, and then it foists something like Trump upon the holier-than-thou elites to show them that they really don't rule.
That's right, the people rule. And the media and the pollsters and the prognosticators are all out of touch with the people. They think their power is inviolate, that what they say goes, that they know better, and if you don't hate these people, you're one of them.
And there are very few of them.
So, the right wing labels Hillary a crook. As if she broke into a bank, shot twenty people and stole millions. Actually, that's not far from the version of the truth they're selling. You'd think she's a deplorable.
But the true deplorables are the white supremacist, immigrant-hating men and women who don't believe in change.
But change is inevitable.
And change is what has happened in our country. And no one seems to have a grasp on it. Not the media, not artists, no one seems to be able to say this is where we are and I've got a plan out of here. Trump is a bozo selling snake oil and Hillary is completely out of touch. But so is the government. Government is now a way to get rich, no different from Hollywood way back when. Hate the game, not the player.
And everybody does hate the game.
But we keep playing it. So far, revolution has not come. Shooting black people is bad, but somehow it's now the African-Americans' fault, explain that to me, please. And if Trump loses his supporters want to overthrow the government, not realizing that Congress has nearly done this, by not promulgating legislation and not anointing a Supreme Court justice. We're constantly on the precipice but we don't tip over. Will it take a terrorist attack, or a hacking scandal of gigantic proportions? And then will we elect a strongman who makes us safe who really does anything but that?
If you've got a brain, you've got more questions than answers.
And if you've got a brain you're doing your best to understand the dissatisfaction in our nation. Quote me statistics all day long, but it doesn't feel like we're going in the right direction, it doesn't feel like I have opportunity, and hope is everything, but there's only hope for the rich elite.
Which is how Trump gained traction. Want to turn things around? Look at yourself, change your behavior, don't only vote but ask yourself if you respect others, look for their gifts. The rich have all the money, but the poor will help you in a crisis, that's what the statistics say.
And we trust statistics, but sometimes falsely. Because they're cherry-picked, they don't tell the truth. We won't know which candidate will win until everybody votes and their choices have been tabulated.
There's a serious chance Trump wins.
And even if he doesn't, and let's pray he doesn't, our long national nightmare will not have ended, it will have only just begun. The government will be gridlocked and the problems of the people will still exist.
And the problem is we all live in a society, we're all in it together, and no one wants to live by that credo, everybody's pointing fingers at everyone else and looking for a way out. They want to separate themselves, but it can't be done. It is a big tent, it is a Great Society. And you can't win every time, you've got to do your best to understand contrary viewpoints, educate people on the facts and include them in progress.
But recently, that's become impossible to do. We planted seeds decades ago that are now sprouting and surprising us.
Come on, do you expect the poor to do the right thing when public education has been underfunded and people can't analyze the truth, never mind know where to find it?
No, we're all complicit.
And we've got to turn this country around.
We need new leaders and we've got to watch the parking meters, but the parking meters were all sold to hedge funds that now charge us on Sundays and public service is seen as a joke, an engineer is revered but someone who has dedicated themselves to the process, to helping others, is not.
This is where we are.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Then again, those words were written by a Canadian.
But we're constantly told the United States is the greatest country in the world!
But in many ways it's not.
And if we can't look for the truth in our country, how are we gonna look for the truth in ourselves?
We've got a long way to go, and whatever happens on Tuesday it is not the end, but only the beginning.
Nate Silver - "Election Update: Don't Ignore The Polls - Clinton Leads, But It's A Close Race": http://53eig.ht/2ednH7Y?utm_source=phplist5629&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=How+We+Got+Here
Paul Krugman - "Working the Refs": http://nyti.ms/2fvl1Pt?utm_source=phplist5629&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=How+We+Got+Here
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